Article
Otorhinolaryngology
Seong Hoon Bae, Sang Hyun Kwak, Jee Eun Yoo, Kyu Min Kim, Young Min Hyun, Jae Young Choi, Jinsei Jung
Summary: Resident macrophages in spiral ligaments of the cochlea predominantly locate in areas away from the stria vascularis, and this distribution pattern remains consistent even under inflammatory conditions.
CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Dennis J. Weingarten, Eva Sebastian, Jennifer Winkelhoff, Nadine Patschull-Keiner, Alexander U. Fischer, Simon L. Wadle, Eckhard Friauf, Jan J. Hirtz
Summary: This study reveals a glycinergic projection from the ipsilateral cochlear nucleus to principal neurons in the lateral superior olive, providing inhibitory synaptic input to mediate sidebands of neural response.
FRONTIERS IN NEURAL CIRCUITS
(2023)
Article
Biology
Irina Ignatova, Roman Frolov, Soile Nymark
Summary: Recent studies have found voltage-activated Na+ channels in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), which are important for the phagocytosis of photoreceptor outer segments and maintaining retinal homeostasis.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tobias Weller, Max Eike Timm, Thomas Lenarz, Andreas Buechner
Summary: This study investigated the relationship between insertion angle and cochlear coverage of lateral wall electrode arrays and post-operative speech recognition scores. It found that higher cochlear coverage and insertion angle were correlated with better word recognition scores. These findings suggest that choosing the optimal electrode array can improve cochlear implantation outcomes.
Article
Neurosciences
Joseph Santos-Sacchi, Jun -Ping Bai, Dhasakumar Navaratnam
Summary: Charged moieties in the prestin protein, a motor protein in the outer hair cell (OHC) membrane, are driven by transmembrane voltage to support OHC electromotility (eM) and cochlear amplification (CA), enhancing mammalian hearing. By studying prestin charge movements, it was found that its response at ultrasonic frequencies is larger than previously predicted, indicating the potential influence of eM at ultrasonic frequencies, which is consistent with recent in vivo results.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hui Hong, Douglas Zeppenfeld, Laurence O. Trussell
Summary: Efferent neurons, specifically the lateral olivocochlear (LOC) neurons, play vital roles in maintaining auditory function. Through in vitro experiments, it was discovered that LOC neurons in juvenile and young adult mice exhibited extremely slow waves of activity driven by an intrinsic oscillator dependent on L-type Ca2+ channels. Additionally, optogenetic approaches helped identify both ascending and descending sources of synaptic excitation, as well as the synaptic receptors involved. These findings provide important insights into the mechanisms of diverse transmitter release by LOC fibers in the cochlea.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Review
Engineering, Biomedical
Filip Hrncirik, Iwan Roberts, Ilkem Sevgili, Chloe Swords, Manohar Bance
Summary: As the first clinically translated machine-neural interface, cochlear implants (CI) have shown success in restoring hearing for severe to profound hearing loss patients. However, challenges such as hearing damage from insertion forces during implantation and limited focusing ability due to current spread hinder wider CI eligibility. This review provides an overview of cochlear anatomy and physical properties as a resource to improve accurate models for future CI treatments. It also discusses the advancements, challenges, and future directions in the development of physical, animal, tissue engineering, and computational models of the cochlea.
ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Audrey Franceschi Biagioni, Giada Cellot, Elisa Pati, Neus Lozano, Belen Ballesteros, Raffaele Casani, Norberto Cysne Coimbra, Kostas Kostarelos, Laura Ballerini
Summary: Engineered small graphene oxide (s-GO) sheets have been shown to reversibly down-regulate glutamatergic synapses in the hippocampus, indicating their potential to target specific synapses in vivo. Synapses, acting as functional interfaces among neurons in the Central Nervous System (CNS), play a crucial role in synaptic plasticity, which is essential for learning and memory. Dysfunctional synaptic plasticity has been implicated in various brain diseases, such as dementia and anxiety disorders, highlighting the importance of understanding these mechanisms for potential therapeutic interventions.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Milica Gusic, Klaus Benndorf, Christian Sattler
Summary: Our study reveals that each occupied binding site contributes to channel activation in P2X7 receptors. While the occupation of a single binding site can activate the channels, three bound ligands maximally stabilize the open state, suggesting a stepwise activation process for P2X7 receptors.
BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Haiying Sun, Tian Wang, Patrick J. Atkinson, Sara E. Billings, Wuxing Dong, Alan G. Cheng
Summary: The study reveals that Gpr125 is dynamically expressed in various cell types in the developing and mature cochlea, but it is not essential for cochlear development and hearing.
FRONTIERS IN CELL AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Zhifan Xie, Xian-Hu Ma, Qiu-Fang Bai, Jie Tang, Jian-He Sun, Fei Jiang, Wei Guo, Chen-Ma Wang, Rui Yang, Yin-Chuan Wen, Fang-Yuan Wang, Yu-Xia Chen, Hai Zhang, David Z. He, Matthew W. Kelley, Shiming Yang, Weiping J. Zhang
Summary: Very little is known about the transcriptional network governing cochlear late-stage maturation and particularly the differentiation of its lateral nonsensory region. ZBTB20 is abundantly expressed in the developing and mature cochlear nonsensory epithelial cells and is essential for cochlear terminal differentiation and maturation and hearing. The absence of ZBTB20 causes profound deafness and various structural defects in the cochlear epithelium.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Instruments & Instrumentation
Ian Delgadillo Bonequi, Abraham Stroschein, Lucas J. Koerner
Summary: This article describes a custom and open-source FPGA-based data acquisition system that is used for electrophysiology and closed-loop feedback experiments. The system combines FPGA acquisition and processing with high-speed analog and digital converters to enable real-time feedback. The digital approach simplifies experimental setup and repeatability by allowing for system identification and in situ tuning of filter bandwidths.
REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS
(2022)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Stephan Waldeck, Rania Helal, Ibraheem Al-Dhamari, Sandra Schmidt, Christian von Falck, Rene Chapot, Marc Brockmann, Daniel Overhoff
Summary: This study evaluated the time required for diagnosing correct or incorrect cochlear implant (CI) placement using a novel algorithm for image analysis (ACIR) compared to manual multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) analysis. The results showed that 3D postoperative imaging accurately diagnosed CI misalignment, and the application of the novel ultra-fast algorithm significantly reduced the time for diagnosis compared to MPR analysis.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF RADIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Guoqiang Sun, Yandong Zheng, Xiaolong Fu, Weiqi Zhang, Jie Ren, Shuai Ma, Shuhui Sun, Xiaojuan He, Qiaoran Wang, Zhejun Ji, Fang Cheng, Kaowen Yan, Ziyi Liu, Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, Jing Qu, Si Wang, Renjie Chai, Guang-Hui Liu
Summary: By establishing a dynamic single-cell transcriptomic landscape of cochlear aging, we found that loss of proteostasis and elevated apoptosis are the key features of cochlear aging. We also discovered unexpected transcriptional fluctuations in intermediate cells located in the stria vascularis. Additionally, upregulation of the ER chaperone protein HSP90AA1 can mitigate ER stress-induced damages associated with aging, suggesting a potential therapeutic target for delaying age-related hearing loss.
Article
Otorhinolaryngology
Michael W. Canfarotta, Margaret T. Dillon, Kevin D. Brown, Harold C. Pillsbury, Matthew M. Dedmon, Brendan P. O'Connell
Summary: The study found that complete insertion of a 31.5-mm flexible array is feasible in most cases and is not limited by the range of cochlear duct length observed in the cohort. Future studies are needed to estimate other variations in cochlear morphology that could predict resistance and failure to achieve complete insertion with long arrays.
OTOLARYNGOLOGY-HEAD AND NECK SURGERY
(2021)