BACKGROUND The homeobox gene Prox1 is required for lens, retina, pancreas, liver, and lymphatic vasculature development and is expressed in inner ear supporting cells and neurons. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We have investigated the role of Prox1 in the developing mouse ear taking advantage of available standard and conditional Prox1 mutant mouse strains using Tg(Pax2-Cre) and Tg(Nes-Cre)....

Regeneration of receptor cells and subsequent functional recovery after damage in the auditory and vestibular systems of many vertebrates is well known. Spontaneous regeneration of mammalian hair cells does not occur. However, recent approaches provide hope for similar restoration of hearing and balance in humans after loss. Newly regenerated hair cells receive afferent terminal contacts, yet n...

objective: objective: dermal papilla and hair epithelial stem cells regulate hair formation and growth cycle. damage to or losing of these cells can cause hair loss. although several studies have claimed to reconstitute hairs using rodent cells in animal model, a stable human hair follicle reconstitution protocol needs more studies. here in this study we evaluated hair induction through injecti...

Cholesterol and sex steroid hormones including androgens and estrogens play a critical role in the development and progression of urological diseases such as prostate cancer. This disease remains the most commonly diagnosed malignant tumor in men and is the leading cause of death from different cancers. Attempts to understand the role of cholesterol and steroid metabolism in urological diseases...

Optical stimulation of the inner ear, the cochlea, is discussed as a possible alternative to conventional cochlear implants with the hypothetical improvement of dynamic range and frequency resolution. In this study nanosecond-pulsed optical stimulation of the hearing and non-hearing inner ear is investigated in vivo over a wide range of optical wavelengths and at different beam delivery locatio...

Ribbon synapses of inner hair cells (IHCs) mediate high rates of synchronous exocytosis to indefatigably track the stimulating sound with sub-millisecond precision. The sophisticated molecular machinery of the inner hair cell active zone realizes this impressive performance by enabling a large number of synaptic voltage-gated CaV1.3 Ca2+-channels, their tight coupling to synaptic vesicles (SVs)...

The presence of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in the efferent fibers of virtually every hair cell organ studied suggests it may serve some fundamental but heretofore unknown role in control of hair cell function. We examined the effects of CGRP on spontaneous and stimulus-evoked discharge patterns in an in vitro preparation of the lateral line organ of Xenopus laevis. Discharge pattern...

This study was conducted to evaluate the promoting effect of Ishige sinicola, an alga native to Jeju Island, Korea, on hair growth. When vibrissa follicles were cultured in the presence of I. sinicola extract for 21 days, I. sinicola extract increased hair-fiber length. After topical application of I. sinicola extract onto the back of C57BL/6 mice, anagen progression of the hair shaft was induc...