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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neuro-Otology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1501914
This article is part of the Research Topic Function and dysfunction of sensory hair cells and supporting cells View all 11 articles

Electrophysiological Properties of Vestibular Hair Cells Isolated from Human Crista

Provisionally accepted
Nesrien Mohamed Nesrien Mohamed Mohammad Al-Amin Mohammad Al-Amin Frances Meredith Frances Meredith Olivia Kalmanson Olivia Kalmanson Anna Dondzillo Anna Dondzillo Stephen Cass Stephen Cass Samuel Gubbels Samuel Gubbels Katherine Janet Rennie Katherine Janet Rennie *
  • University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Our sense of balance depends heavily on signals originating in vestibular hair cells of the inner ear.Many studies have been carried out in rodent vestibular hair cells and data from hair cells of human vestibular organs are scant. In this study we report electrophysiological recordings from isolated vestibular sensory hair cells obtained from patients undergoing translabyrinthine surgeries for vestibular schwannoma removal. Previous studies have reported that hair cell loss and regeneration may occur in vestibular schwannoma patients and hair cell replacement is a promising therapeutic avenue to correct vestibular dysfunction. We found membrane features of isolated human vestibular hair cells resemble those of mature rodent hair cells in several electrophysiological and pharmacological aspects. Type I vestibular hair cells were found to have more negative resting potentials and low voltage-activated K + currents compared to type II hair cells which had delayed rectifier outward K + currents that activated above resting potential. Identifying physiological properties of human hair cells and understanding their roles in vestibular function is needed to inform future inner ear therapies.

    Keywords: Vestibular hair cell, semicircular canal, K + current, cGMP, vestibular schwannoma

    Received: 25 Sep 2024; Accepted: 17 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Mohamed, Al-Amin, Meredith, Kalmanson, Dondzillo, Cass, Gubbels and Rennie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Katherine Janet Rennie, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, 80045, Colorado, United States

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