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Hair Cell

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Regenerative Medicine for the Inner Ear

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Abstract

Hair cells are the main components of the inner ears that facilitate mechano-electrical transduction to perceive sound or change in body position. Hair cells are highly differentiated and have many specialized characteristics. Morphologically, hair cells have hair bundles on their apical side and receive innervation from the primary auditory nerve. Physiologically, deflection of hair bundles causes depolarization of membrane potential and as a result, hair cells transmit signals to the auditory nerve by releasing neurotransmitters. There are six different sensory epithelia and four different types of hair cells: inner and outer hair cells in the cochlea and type I and II hair cells in the vestibular organs. Each type of hair cell has different morphological and functional characteristics. Moreover, these hair cells are localized with other cell types (e.g., supporting cells) in specified patterns and polarity to function properly.

Owing to these highly differentiated characteristics, it is difficult to regenerate hair cells. Moreover, proliferation of mammalian cochlear hair cells is confined within embryonic period. However, recent advancement in the knowledge of developmental biology and the rapid progress in the field of stem cell biology are anticipated to resolve the problems that prevent the successful regeneration of mammalian hair cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan

    Norio Yamamoto

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  1. Norio Yamamoto
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Correspondence to Norio Yamamoto .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan

    Juichi Ito

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Yamamoto, N. (2014). Hair Cell. In: Ito, J. (eds) Regenerative Medicine for the Inner Ear. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54862-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54862-1_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-54861-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-54862-1

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