Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells Technologies

Researchers from Nanjing University (PR China) have recently developed an organoid model for cochlear hair cell formation. This novel culture-based system can be used to identify regenerative therapies that promote hair growth – providing a new avenue of therapy for hearing loss.

Their research was published in the journal Stem Cell Reports.

Whilst lost hair cells in animals such as fish and birds can be replaced, mammals cannot regenerate these cells. As well as hair loss damaging our egos, this occurrence has a much more serious consequence on our ability to hear.

Hair cells in the ear are critical for our hearing. Partial or complete hearing loss can occur as a result of aging, disease, exposure to loud noises or certain chemicals.

In their research, the team set out to elucidate if hair cell regeneration in humans was possible under the right conditions.

Using immature cochlear tissue from neonatal mice, the team produced cochlear organoids – tissue structures that resemble the inner ear. Once these ear-mimics began to grow hair, the team screened a collection of over one thousand US FDA-approved drugs to determine if any stimulated hair cell formation.

One substance, an anti-cancer drug called regorafenib, was able to do just that.

Not only did regorafenib promote hair growth in these organoids – it also promoted hair cell formation, and even regenerated hair cells in mouse cochlear tissues that were damaged by chemical exposure.

This research paves the way for using high-throughput screening approaches to identify stimulators of hair cell regeneration in mammals as a potential treatment for hearing loss. Additional research is required before these results can be followed up humans.

Ref:https://www.regmednet.com/cochlear-organoids-enable-screening-for-hair-cell-regenerating-drugs/