I stumbled across this news story in the ScienceDaily: “Scientists discover natural repair process that repair damaged hearing cells”, so I apologize if it’s OLD news here? It seems intriguing, and along the lines of hearing hair cell regeneration.
Snippet:
The hair cells do this by deploying a protein called XIRP2, which has the ability to sense damage to the cores, which are made of a substance called actin. (Lead scientist) Shin and his team found that XIRP2 first senses damage, then migrates to the damage site and repairs the cores by filling in new actin.
“For many years, auditory research has placed considerable emphasis on the regeneration of sensory hair cells. Although these efforts continue, it is equally important to enhance our comprehension of the intrinsic mechanisms that govern the repair and maintenance of these cells. By gaining a deeper understanding of these inherent repair processes, we can uncover strategies to fortify them effectively. One such approach in the future might involve the utilization of drugs that stimulate repair programs,” said researcher Jung-Bum Shin, PhD, of UVA’s Department of Neuroscience.
Wow, I’d be first in line to try a drug to regenerate my hearing hair cells! I was born with genetic sensorineural hearing loss, which has stair-stepped down, down, down, DOWN over the decades.
On the same page as the article was a link to another story of interest from 25th Oct of this year: “Scientists discover a hidden gene that causes deafness - and a way to fix it”. Also worth a read as it explores congenital sensorineural hearing loss. Is it really that “rare” as the article says? In this case both arginine supplements and, um, VIAGRA were used to stimulate the signaling pathways. Food for thought.
