Research aimed at optimising diagnostic laboratory procedures is central to the development of effective bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) control programmes. BVDV is a single-stranded RNA virus that crosses the placenta to infect foetuses, resulting in reproductive losses due to foetal death or persistently infected calves that die early in life. Persistently infected animals are widely acce...

Mucous cell metaplasia/hyperplasia in the middle ear epithelium is associated with the occurrence of otitis media with effusion during infections. However, the mechanism by which Notch signaling regulates cell fate in the middle ear epithelium is unclear. The aim of the present study was to elucidate this mechanism by investigating the localization of Notch receptors, such as Notch1 and Notch2,...

Sensorineural deafness and balance dysfunction are common impairments in humans frequently caused by defects in the sensory epithelium of the inner ear, composed of hair cells and supporting cells. Lineage studies have shown that hair cells and supporting cells arise from a common progenitor, but how these progenitors are generated remains unknown. Although various molecules have been implicate...

Neurons of the statoacoustic ganglion (SAG) transmit auditory and vestibular information from the inner ear to the hindbrain. SAG neuroblasts originate in the floor of the otic vesicle. New neuroblasts soon delaminate and migrate towards the hindbrain while continuing to proliferate, a phase known as transit amplification. SAG cells eventually come to rest between the ear and hindbrain before t...

Collapsin response mediator protein 5 (CRMP5) belongs to a family of five cytosolic proteins that play a major role in nervous system development. This protein was first described in cancer-induced autoimmune processes, causing neurodegenerative disorders (paraneoplastic neurologic syndromes). CRMP5 expression has been reported to serve as a biomarker for high-grade lung neuroendocrine carcinom...

Hearing impairment or vestibular dysfunction in humans often results from a permanent loss of critical cell types in the sensory regions of the inner ear, including hair cells, supporting cells, or cochleovestibular neurons. These important cell types arise from a common sensory or neurosensory progenitor, although little is known about how these progenitors are specified. Studies have shown th...

In response to pain, mice may vocalize at frequencies above the range of human hearing (greater than 20 kHz). To determine whether an ultrasonic recording system is a reliable tool for assessing acute pain, we measured audible and ultrasonic vocalization in mice subjected to either nonpainful or potentially painful procedures performed routinely in animal facilities. Data were collected from 10...

In mammals, six separate sensory regions in the inner ear are essential for hearing and balance function. Each sensory region is made up of hair cells, which are the sensory cells, and their associated supporting cells, both arising from a common progenitor. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms that govern the development of these sensory organs. Notch signaling plays a pivotal role i...

Recent studies have demonstrated that the Notch signaling pathway regulates the differentiation of sensory hair cells in the vertebrate inner ear [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]. We have shown previously that in mice homozygous for a targeted null mutation of the Jagged2 (Jag2) gene, which encodes a Notch ligand, supernumerary hair cells differentiate in the cochlea of the inner ear [7]. Ot...

The mechanisms of formation of the distinct sensory organs of the inner ear and the non-sensory domains that separate them are still unclear. Here, we show that several sensory patches arise by progressive segregation from a common prosensory domain in the embryonic chicken and mouse otocyst. This process is regulated by mutually antagonistic signals: Notch signalling and Lmx1a. Notch-mediated ...