Sensory hair cells are mechanoreceptors of the auditory and vestibular systems and are crucial for hearing and balance. In adult mammals, auditory hair cells are unable to regenerate, and damage to these cells results in permanent hearing loss. By contrast, hair cells in the chick cochlea and the zebrafish lateral line are able to regenerate, prompting studies into the signaling pathways, morph...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To evaluate the ability of the Ad28.gfap.atoh1 to promote hair cell regeneration and hearing recovery in cochlea injured with kanamycin and furosemide. STUDY DESIGN In vivo model of hair cell ablation and subsequent treatment with Atoh1. METHODS The hair cells of C57BL/6 mice were ablated with systemic administration of kanamycin and furosemide. The left ears were trea...

In the mammalian inner ear neurosensory cell fate depends on three closely related transcription factors, Atoh1 for hair cells and Neurog1 and Neurod1 for neurons. We have previously shown that neuronal cell fate can be altered towards hair cell fate by eliminating Neurod1 mediated repression of Atoh1 expression in neurons. To test whether a similar plasticity is present in hair cell fate commi...

An understanding of the molecular bases of the morphogenesis, organization, and functioning of hair cells requires that the genes expressed in these cells be identified and their functions ascertained. After purifying zebrafish hair cells and detecting mRNAs with oligonucleotide microarrays, we developed a subtractive strategy that identified 1,037 hair cell-expressed genes whose cognate protei...

Loss of sensory hair cells in the inner ear results in two global health impairments: hearing loss and balance disorders. In humans and other mammals, auditory hair cells damage is permanent and causes irreversible hearing loss. By contrast, hair cells in non-mammalian vertebrates are able to regenerate, prompting studies into the epigenetic mechanisms and signaling pathways that regulate hair ...

Aml1/Runx1 controls developmental aspects of several tissues, is a master regulator of blood stem cells, and plays a role in leukemia. However, it is unclear whether it functions in tissue stem cells other than blood. Here, we have investigated the role of Runx1 in mouse hair follicle stem cells by conditional ablation in epithelial cells. Runx1 disruption affects hair follicle stem cell activa...

Sensory hair cells are mechanoreceptors of the auditory and vestibular systems and are crucial for hearing and balance. In adult mammals, auditory hair cells are unable to regenerate, and damage to these cells results in permanent hearing loss. By contrast, hair cells in the chick cochlea and the zebrafish lateral line are able to regenerate, prompting studies into the signaling pathways, morph...

ROOT HAIR DEFECTIVE SIX-LIKE4 (RSL4) is necessary and sufficient for root hair elongation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Root hair length is determined by the duration for which RSL4 protein is present in the developing root hair. The aim of this research was to identify genes regulated by RSL4 that affect root hair growth. To identify genes regulated by RSL4, we identified genes whose expression was...

Rennie, K. J., J. F. Ashmore, and M. J. Correia. Evidence for an Na1-K1-Cl2 cotransporter in mammalian type I vestibular hair cells. Am. J. Physiol. 273 (Cell Physiol. 42): C1972–C1980, 1997.—In amniotes, there are two types of hair cells, designated I and II, that differ in their morphology, innervation pattern, and ionic membrane properties. Type I cells are unique among hair cells in that th...

The molecular mechanisms underlying the specification of sensory organs in the inner ear and the development of hair and supporting cells within these organs are described. The different organs are all derived from a common pro-sensory region, and may be specified by their proximity to the boundaries between compartments - broad domains within the otocyst defined by the asymmetric expression pa...