Developing The Sense of Hearing and Balance: Did You Hear It's In Your Ear?

According to WebMD hearing loss is the third most common health problem in the U.S.  There are certain causes of hearing loss such as age, illness, and genetics. People lose their hearing overtime some say due to the old  rock or rap concerts they went to back in the day.  Interesting as it is, there are cells in your ear that connects to neurons leading to the process in your brain that allows you to hear.

Dr. Wei-Ming Yu professor at Loyola University Chicago on February 16,201 spoke to a neuroscience seminar class about the research regarding the development of our hearing senses and balance. Dr. Yu discussed how our auditory system is connected through a circuit of neurons in your brain that connects to the cochlea inner hair cells  (ICH). Using mice Dr. Yu identified genetic transcription factors called Gata3 and Mafb which both work together in producing a  spiral ganglion neuron specific to the inner hair cells of your cochlea. The formation of the neuron synapse is ribbon shaped designed by the influence of the Gata3 factor to efficiently send signals to the (ICH). These cells are stimulated when you hear sound which activates a pathway involved from your (ICH), anterior ventral cochlear nucleus(AVCN), and others.

What is amazing is that these specific factors have been identified to create neurons specific to hearing.  A recent study by Jaime Desjardins, Ph.D, found that hearing aids improve brain function in person hearing loss. People as Desjardins says “spend so much of their brainpower just trying to focus on listening. They may not be able to perform their job well. Or if they can, they’re exhausted because they are working much harder.”

Dr. Yu uses mice to study the effects of these transcription factors and how they are specifically related to the spiral ganglion neurons (SGN) formation. Overtime the spiral ganglion neurons (SGN) that connect to our inner hair cells slowly degenerate. Mafb might be enough to fix that, and with scientific research a drug can be used to translocate the Mafb into the degenerating cells and increase hearing. There is a possibility this can advance scientists towards the end of hearing loss; ending those having to work hard to hear and affect their lifestyle. 

Sources:

University of Texas at El Paso. "Hearing aids improve memory, speech." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 January 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160128155757.htm>.

Yu, W.-M. et al. A Gata3-Mafb transcriptional network direts post-synapitc differentiation in synapses specialized for hearing. eLife 2, e01341 (2013)

"Symptoms of Hearing Loss and Levels of Hearing Loss." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.

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