Nestin-expressing cells in the developing, mature and noise-exposed cochlear epithelium

Reiko Watanabea, c, Maria H. Morellb, d, Josef M. Millera, Ariane Kanickia, K. Sue O'Sheab, Richard A. Altschulera, b, Yehoash Raphaela, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author

a Kresge Hearing Research Institute, Department of Otolaryngology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5648, USA
b Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5648, USA
c Department of Otolaryngology, Keio University, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0016, Japan
d Instituto de Parasitologia y Biomedicina López Neyra, 18100 Armilla, Granada, Spain

Available online 20 November 2011.


Abstract

The auditory sensory epithelium in non-mammalian vertebrates can replace lost hair cells by transdifferentiation of supporting cells, but this regenerative ability is lost in the mammalian cochlea.


Future cell-based treatment of hearing loss may depend on stem cell transplantation or on transdifferentiation of endogenous cells in the cochlea.

For both approaches, identification of cells with stem cell features within the mature cochlea may be useful.

Here we use a Nestin-β-gal mouse to examine the presence of Nestin positive cells in the mature auditory epithelium, and determine how overstimulation of the ear impacts these cells.

Nestin positive cells were found in the apical turn of the cochlea lateral to the outer hair cell area.

This pattern of expression persisted into mature age.


The area of Nestin positive cells was increased after the noise lesion.


This increase in area coincided with an increase in expression of the Nestin mRNA. The data suggest that cells with potential stem cell features remain in the mature mammalian cochlea, restricted to the apical turn, and that an additional set of signals is necessary to trigger their contribution to cell replacement therapy in the ear.

As such, this population of cells could serve to generate cochlear stem cells for research and potential therapy, and may be a target for treatments based on induced transdifferentiation of endogenous cochlear cells.

Keywords: Cochlea; Nestin; Deafness; Development; Mouse; Stem cell; Acoustic trauma
Article Outline

Corresponding Author Contact InformationCorresponding author at: MSRB-3 Rm. 9220B, 1150 W. Med. Cntr. Dr., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5648, USA.

Fuente: Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
doi:10.1016/j.mcn.2011.11.001