Elusive cell type in fish sensory organs is discovered at the Stowers Institute of Medical Science. The discovery of elusive cell type in fish can prove to be a landmark one in the area of hearing restoration in humans. Mammals as of now suffer from a serious disadvantage of not growing back the sensory hair cells. So, researchers of this particular study stamp on the fact that this research can prove to be extremely helpful in growing back such hair or cell type.
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The Hearing Health Foundation
Tatjana Piotrowski is the investigator of the research and also pursues a Ph.D. at Stowers. And he has his research published in a science journal’s website Physics.Org. He is also actively in functional and transitional science, being conducted at the Hearing Health Foundation. The institute carries various studies on animals like fish, chicken, mouse and even other cell cultures to deduce results for the benefit of humanity. Now, Piotrowski believes that understanding the mechanism of fish’s hair cell regeneration can help humans also regenerate hair cells naturally.
Elusive cell type in fish- a promising discovery to prosthetics alternative
The inner hair cells in humans transform sound and gravitational forces into electrical signals. And we tend to hear these sounds and thus maintain spatial orientation. But factors like loud noise, increasing age, overuse of antibiotics, etc. can affect hearing in individuals dramatically. Also, if the fluid that surrounds hair cells in humans becomes more than required can lead to Ménière’s disease. So, all of these factors can lead to loss of hearing in humans. Though we have prosthetics to restore some hearing it can never replace a natural form of restoration.
Researchers’ quotes:
Researchers and scientists thus always diligently burn the midnight oil to get as close to nature’s process of propagation as possible. And with the discovery of the elusive cell type in fish, they hope to get close to reviving the natural process. Piotrowski quotes, “To gain a detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms and genes that enable fish to regenerate hair cells, we need to understand which cells give rise to regenerating hair cells and related to that question, how many cell types exist in the sensory organs”
