Newswise — CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., May 20, 2014 – The ability to discern pitch – to hear the difference between “cat,” “bat” and “hat,” for example – hinges on remarkable gradations in specialized cells within the inner ear. New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine and the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders has explained, for the first time, what controls these cells’ development and patterning – findings crucial to efforts to reverse hearing loss caused by age, loud sounds or other factors.

The researchers have been studying the development of these cells in chickens, which, like many creatures, have a remarkable capacity humans lack: the ability to regrow the sound-detecting cells after suffering hearing loss. Jeffrey T. Corwin, PhD, of UVA’s Departments of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, noted that if both a human and a hen were to be exposed to a sound loud enough to destroy the ability to hear a certain pitch, the outcomes would be very different: “We would lose the ability to hear that sound for the rest of our lives. The bird also would lose the ability, but within 10 days, it would have its cells back – they would hook back up to the nerves, and within a few weeks its hearing would be back and almost indistinguishable from before.”

Understanding that process, then, may one day allow scientists to replicate it in humans. “Eventually therapies will come about from this regenerative approach, and these new discoveries will be a critical component,” Corwin said.

Detecting PitchPitch detection occurs within the cochlea, a small spiral structure within the inner ear. Inside the cochlea are specialized cells, known as hair cells, which are tuned to different sound pitches based, in part, on their locations along the cochlea’s spiral and the number and the length of their stereocilia – hair-like microscopic protrusions that give the cells their name. High-pitched sounds are detected by cells with shorter hair bundles, located closest to where sound enters the ear; lower-pitched sounds are detected by cells with taller hair bundles located further in, and that pattern progresses through the several thousand hair cells that are essential for hearing. “When you hear different sounds, not every single hair cell in the cochlea is responding, only the ones that are sensitive to the specific sound frequencies,” explained Benjamin R. Thiede, lead author of a paper outlining the new discovery.

Until now, scientists have not understood what orchestrates the formation of this critical pattern of individually distinct hair cells. The researchers, however, have solved that mystery, demonstrating that two specific molecules, Bmp7 and retinoic acid, guide cells to acquire location-specific attributes. Bmp7 starts the initial patterning process, and retinoic acid regulates how the cells’ hair bundles grow to different lengths.

Thiede found evidence that there are different levels of retinoic acid activity along the length of the cochlea, so he tried adding more retinoic acid in cells grown in a lab dish and found that they produced longer hair bundles. Then he used a drug to block retinoic acid’s activity and found that resulted in shorter bundles.

Thiede noted that when chickens regenerate damaged hair cells, the new cells develop with just the right characteristics for cells in those particular locations along the cochlea. “So the question is, are developmental signals like Bmp7 and retinoic acid involved in reestablishing the pattern of hair cells and restoring hearing to the regenerating cochlea?” he asked. “If we look at the mammalian system, which can’t regenerate, are these signals lost? … Does the mammal turn off these important signals once development is completed, so they’re not reactivated for regeneration?”

That’s a matter for further investigation, but it suggests a tantalizing path for developing new treatments.

Published OnlineThe findings have been published online by Nature Communications in two papers. One paper was authored by Thiede, Zoe F. Mann and Weise Chang of the National Institutes of Health, Yuan-Chieh Ku of Washington University, Yena K. Son of UVA, Michael Lovett of Washington University, Matthew W. Kelley of the National Institutes of Health, and Corwin. The other paper was authored by Mann, Thiede, Chang, Jung-bum Shin of UVA, Helen May-Simera of the National Institutes of Health, Lovett, Corwin and Kelley.

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On Tues., May 20 at 10:00 AM EDT, you are invited to attend a virtual conference featuring the UVA researchers. This live event provides reporters with the unique opportunity to encounter Drs. Corwin and Thiede (virtual and video). The essence of this new technology for holding meetings is real-time engagement replicating the experience of being in a physical room with the source. All participants in the event will be on video (webcam) and visible to one another for improved interaction.

The Newswise Live welcome room for the event will open at 9:00 AM ET. You are invited to drop in, get comfortable, address any technical issues you might encounter, then go about your work until the event begins at 10:00 AM ET. If this is your first time participating in a Newswise Live event, we urge you join the welcome room early. A limited number of journalists will have access to the room; those who arrive first are guaranteed entry.

A news conference is being held at 10 AM ET, Tuesday, May 20, 3 hours before the embargo release time, so you must register for the event at http://ht.ly/x0pSN (click on the register button, and on the register page click on the “Pitch-Detection Secrets...” button. We will subsequently email you the password for the event. The deadline to register is 5 PM ET today--Monday, May 19.

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CITATIONS

Nature Communications