Inner Ear Stem Cells



Fig. 30.1
Inner ear stem cells. Potential candidates of stem cells are supporting cells [2, 4, 5, 79], cells at LER [2, 4, 7], cells at GER [3], and tympanic border cells [10, 11]. IHC inner hair cells, OHC outer hair cells, LER lesser epithelial ridge, GER greater epithelial ridge



The microenvironment surrounding the stem cells is called as niche [21]. It has a significant role in the maintenance of stem cells and enables them to keep proliferate and differentiate into mature cells. However, the niche for inner ear stem cells is unknown. It is necessary to elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of inner ear stem cells, clarify what keeps the inner ear stem cells in quiescent condition, and identify the reason for the decrease in the number of inner ear stem cells with maturation. If these questions are addressed to activate inner ear stem cells in vivo, it will be a great step in regeneration therapy.



References



1.

Li H, Liu H, Heller S. Pluripotent stem cells from the adult mouse inner ear. Nat Med. 2003;9(10):1293–9.


2.

Zhai S, Shi L, Wang BE, Zheng G, Song W, Hu Y, et al. Isolation and culture of hair cell progenitors from postnatal rat cochleae. J Neurobiol. 2005;65(3):282–93. doi:10.​1002/​neu.​20190.PubMedCrossRef


3.

Zhang Y, Zhai SQ, Shou J, Song W, Sun JH, Guo W, et al. Isolation, growth and differentiation of hair cell progenitors from the newborn rat cochlear greater epithelial ridge. J Neurosci Meth. 2007;164(2):271–9. doi:10.​1016/​j.​jneumeth.​2007.​05.​009.CrossRef


4.

Oshima K, Grimm CM, Corrales CE, Senn P, Martinez Monedero R, Géléoc GS, et al. Differential distribution of stem cells in the auditory and vestibular organs of the inner ear. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2007;8(1):18–31. doi:10.​1007/​s10162-006-0058-3.PubMedCentralPubMedCrossRef


5.

White PM, Doetzlhofer A, Lee YS, Groves AK, Segil N. Mammalian cochlear supporting cells can divide and trans-differentiate into hair cells. Nature. 2006;441(7096):984–7.


6.

Savary E, Hugnot JP, Chassigneux Y, Travo C, Duperray C, Van De Water T, et al. Distinct population of hair cell progenitors can be isolated from the postnatal mouse cochlea using side population analysis. Stem Cells. 2007;25(2):332–9.

Mar 26, 2017 | Posted by in OTOLARYNGOLOGY | Comments Off on Inner Ear Stem Cells

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