Nasal stem cells may prevent childhood deafness

The stem cells' majestic approaches in the regenerative medicines and therapy are manifolding in various layers day by day. Ever since its inception, scientists have not left a single scope to bring it to the benefit of mankind. And thus we can hope to relieve the disastrous effects of many debilitating medical conditions in the future.

It was not long before the stem cells have attracted attention of many, another feat may be in the pipeline to approach people for the stem cell banking. Scientists at Garvan in Australia have shown a satisfactory result of stem cells being used to correct hearing loss developed at the early childhood. They have claimed their achievements in the journal of Stem Cells, about using stem cells from one’s nose that could aid in the regeneration of hearing in the patients.

They carried out a study with mice and reported that they were able to restore or reverse hearing of the mice emerged at the early stage as a sensorineural hearing loss by injecting nasal stem cells into their inner ear.

What Sensorineural Hearing Loss Is?

The cochlea in the inner ear comprising sensory organs of hearing triggers the mechanism of hearing. On failure due to loss of neurons and sensory cells in the cochlea, it impedes our ability to hear properly. Since, the condition emerges at the early stage of infancy or during childhood; it is referred to as sensorineural hearing loss. Many a time, the condition can be genetic or physical. However, the onset of sensorineural hearing loss can hinder the normal development of a child due to inadequate cognition, resulting in motor and speech complications in children.

Here, we need to understand a general term defining short of hearing. While talking about hearing loss, it refers to a diminished ability of someone to hear the sounds. On the other hand, deafness is a condition, which hinders us from hearing speech, which is properly audible.

And in the case of Sensorineural hearing loss, we can define the condition as deafness too. It contributes to 90% of shortness of hearing in the patients. The sensorineural hearing loss can bring a permanent hearing loss, and sometimes its effects can be mild, severe and profound.

The research team comprising Dr. Sharon Oleskevich, Dr. Sonali Pandit and Dr. Jeremy Sullivan from the  Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney found that nasal stem cells on being used on the mice, they released a growth factor, which prompted           the preservation of cochlear hearing cell functions, and regenerated the hearing once again. The process does not influence the inner ear cells to adjust to the implanted cells though.

How Was The Process Conducted?

The first hurdle in the way of correcting the hearing loss was to manipulate the cochlear nerves to adopt regenerative capacity. And therefore, it was decided to use stem cells from other parts of the body to favor the repairing process and restrict the further damage. The mucosa-derived stem cells, bearing the features like mesenchymal stem cells, were injected into the cochlea of mice, which showed similar symptoms of hearing loss like humans during their infancy. The cells released factors and restored the hearing of mice.

The efficacy of the study was tested using an auditory brainstem response essay, and it showed that mice were responding to the lower sound wave. The transplanted mice showed promising results in their hearing performances as compared to the mice without any transplant.

Since, it is easier to extract nasal stem cells; it could turn out to be a potential therapy for human with Parkinson’s and cardiac infarction.  The similar technique is effective for patients with noise-induced hearing loss too.

If the real time medical therapy is possible, we can provide our generation a better hearing aid using stem cells.