Cochlea articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The function of TRPA1 channels in the mammalian cochlea is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that TRPA1 channels in supporting cells of the organ of Corti mediate contractile responses that may contribute to temporary shifts in hearing thresholds after noise exposure in mice.

    • A. Catalina Vélez-Ortega
    • , Ruben Stepanyan
    •  & Gregory I. Frolenkov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mutations in PCDH15 cause deafness and blindness in Usher syndrome 1 F, but gene therapy is difficult because the PCDH15 sequence is too large for AAV vectors. Here, the authors engineered a miniPCDH15 that fits in AAV and rescues hearing in mouse Usher syndrome 1F models.

    • Maryna V. Ivanchenko
    • , Daniel M. Hathaway
    •  & David P. Corey

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sensory hair cells develop an asymmetric architecture to restrict stimulus detection to a single axis. Here the authors identify GPR156 as directing a 180-degree reversal in hair cell orientation through Gαi, downstream of EMX2 in the mouse inner ear and zebrafish lateral line.

    • Katie S. Kindt
    • , Anil Akturk
    •  & Basile Tarchini

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hearing requires inner hair cell (IHC) stereocilia deflection, believed to result from hydrodynamic coupling due to the lack of contact with the tectorial membrane (TM). Here the authors show that IHC stereocilia are TM-embedded, and calcium rich structures in TM may facilitate sound transduction.

    • Pierre Hakizimana
    •  & Anders Fridberger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A common complication of cisplatin-based chemotherapy is hearing loss. Here, Park et al. show that glutathione transferase α4 (GSTA4) contributes to reducing cisplatin toxicity in the inner ear of female mice by removing 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE).

    • Hyo-Jin Park
    • , Mi-Jung Kim
    •  & Shinichi Someya

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are currently few AAV vectors that can effectively target the diverse cell types of the inner ear. Here the authors design AAV-ie for gene delivery to the mouse cochlea, targeting cochlear supporting cells.

    • Fangzhi Tan
    • , Cenfeng Chu
    •  & Guisheng Zhong

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Adeno-associated virus is used in gene therapy in mouse models of hearing loss. Here the authors compare vectors and find AAV2.7m8 can infect cells in the inner ear with high efficiency.

    • Kevin Isgrig
    • , Devin S. McDougald
    •  & Wade W. Chien

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hidden hearing loss (HHL) arises through subtle damage to the synapses of hair cells in the inner ear before audiograms reveal hearing threshold shifts. Here, the authors report that HHL in a mouse model disrupts the neural encoding of loud sound environments in the central auditory system.

    • Warren Michael Henry Bakay
    • , Lucy Anne Anderson
    •  & Roland Schaette

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The sound envelope is important for speech perception. Here, the authors look at mechanisms by which the sound envelope is encoded, finding that it arises from distortion produced by mechanoelectrical transduction channels. Surprisingly, the envelope is not present in basilar membrane vibrations.

    • Alfred L. Nuttall
    • , Anthony J. Ricci
    •  & Anders Fridberger

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hearing requires mechanosensitive hair cells in the organ of Corti, which derive from progenitors of the cochlear duct. Here the authors examine human inner ear development by studying key developmental markers and describe organoid cultures from human cochlear duct progenitors for in vitro hair cell differentiation.

    • Marta Roccio
    • , Michael Perny
    •  & Pascal Senn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) of the cochlea receive input from hair cells and project to the auditory brainstem. Here, the authors perform single-cell RNA sequencing to identify four SGN subclasses and characterize their molecular profile, electrophysiological properties and connectivity.

    • Charles Petitpré
    • , Haohao Wu
    •  & François Lallemend

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optogenetic applications would benefit from channelrhodopsins (ChRs) with faster photostimulation, increased tissue transparency and lower phototoxicity. Here, the authors develop fast red-shifted ChR variants and show the abilities for temporal precise spiking of cerebral interneurons and restoring auditory activity in deaf mice.

    • Thomas Mager
    • , David Lopez de la Morena
    •  & Ernst Bamberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Permanent hearing loss occurs in many cancer patients treated with cisplatin. In this study, the authors examine cisplatin pharmacokinetics in the cochleae of mice and humans showing that cisplatin is retained for months to years after treatment.

    • Andrew M. Breglio
    • , Aaron E. Rusheen
    •  & Lisa L. Cunningham

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A point mutation in the gap-junction protein connexin 30 stops early onset age-related hearing loss. Here, the authors show that gap junctions contribute to cochlear micromechanics and that cochlear amplification is likely controlled by extracellular potentials in vicinity of the cochlear sensory cells.

    • Victoria A. Lukashkina
    • , Snezana Levic
    •  & Ian J. Russell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hidden hearing loss (HHL) is an auditory neuropathy that impairs one’s ability to hear, particularly in a noisy environment. Here the authors show that in mice, transient loss of cochlear Schwann cells results in permanent disruption of the cochlear heminodal structure, leading to auditory deficits characteristic of HHL.

    • Guoqiang Wan
    •  & Gabriel Corfas

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Potassium is necessary for the mechanical-electrical transduction needed for hearing. Here the authors study mice lacking the potassium channel KCNK5 and show that these channels are mostly expressed in the outer sulcus and are required for hearing, pointing to their essential role in potassium recycling.

    • Yves Cazals
    • , Michelle Bévengut
    •  & Christian Gestreau

  • Article |

    Cochlear sensory hair cells produced during development are not replaced after loss so converting the surrounding supporting cells into hair cells could be a potential regenerative strategy. Here the authors show that hair cells can be directly generated from adjacent supporting cells in developing mouse embryos by inhibition of ephrin-B2 signalling.

    • Jean Defourny
    • , Susana Mateo Sánchez
    •  & Brigitte Malgrange

  • Article |

    Precise frequency discrimination is a hallmark of auditory function in birds and mammals and relies on specific phenotypic patterning of the sensory hair cells in the inner ear. Here, Thiede et al. compare the transcriptomes of different regions of the embryonic chicken cochlea and find that retinoic acid plays a role in patterning the phenotypes of frequency-tuned hair cells in the cochlea.

    • Benjamin R. Thiede
    • , Zoë F. Mann
    •  & Jeffrey T. Corwin

  • Article |

    The cochlear amplifier in the inner ear is thought to mediate sensitivity to soft sounds, but this power gain has not been measured directly. Renet aluse an interferometer to measure the volume displacement and velocity of the cochlear partition and demonstrate experimentally that the cochlea amplifies soft sounds.

    • Tianying Ren
    • , Wenxuan He
    •  & Peter G. Gillespie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mutation of theTectbgene reduces auditory sensitivity but increases frequency selectivity. Here the authors show that Tectb mutation reduces both the spatial and temporal propagation of travelling waves along the tectorial membrane, explaining the unexpected auditory abnormalities in this mutant.

    • Roozbeh Ghaffari
    • , Alexander J. Aranyosi
    •  & Dennis M. Freeman

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