Sensory hair cells regenerated, hearing restored in mammal ear

[clandestine]

"Researchers demonstrate for the first time that hair cells can be regenerated in an adult mammalian ear by using a drug to stimulate resident cells to become new hair cells, resulting in partial recovery of hearing in mouse ears damaged by noise trauma.

Hair cells are the primary receptor cells for sound and are responsible for the sense of hearing," explains senior author, Dr. Albert Edge, of Harvard Medical School and Mass. Eye and Ear. "We show that hair cells can be generated in a damaged cochlea and that hair cell replacement leads to an improvement in hearing."

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-sensory-hair-cells-regenerated-mammal.html

[clandestine]

"This is the first demonstration of hair cell regeneration in an adult mammal. "We're excited about these results because they are a step forward in the biology of regeneration and prove that mammalian hair cells have the capacity to regenerate," Dr. Edge said."

Mice, though. But still.

[hellouser]

Would be nice if they found a cure for Tinnitus...... I havent heard silence in a long time.

[garethbale]

In a mouse?

Oh great...

[clandestine]

Yeah, sorry. Pretty sure it's mice. But it's a new article and I felt it relevant.

[tonypizza]

[garethbale]

Yeah, sorry. Pretty sure it's mice. But it's a new article and I felt it relevant.

haha, no need to apologise, just that nothing ever comes from these 'breakthroughs'

[fred970]

Well, now they're going to cure deafness and blindness before baldness!

[DepressedByHairLoss]

Well, now they're going to cure deafness and blindness before baldness!

Actually, they probably won't cure a damn thing. Just like with hair loss discoveries, they'll test these things on mice a thousand times, but not do a damn thing to make it applicable to humans.

But thanks for bringing this article to my attention, clandestine. We need regenerative procedures like these to cure hair loss, and not these surgical procedures over and over again.

[clandestine]

But thanks for bringing this article to my attention, clandestine. We need regenerative procedures like these to cure hair loss, and not these surgical procedures over and over again.

No worries, dbhl. I know you're entirely interested in the whole regenerative, stem cell thing. I am as well, and am in agreeance that research and appropriate product development in this field could not come faster /sooner.