Prospect of stem cells in the treatment of hearing loss / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To review latest researches about the restoration of hair cells loss and injury by stem cells at home and abroad, and probe into the development in investigations about stem-cell substitutive therapy of auditory injury.DATA SOURCES A computer-based online search was conducted in El-sevier database for English literatures about restoration of hearing impairment by stem cells published from January 1990 to May 2005 by using the key words of "stem cells and hearing cell regeneration".STUDY SELECTION Collected literatures were screened. Inclusion criteria ①Articles about hearing impairment and loss. ②Literatures on hearing impairment and restoration. ③Studies about stem-cell substitutive therapy of hearing impairment. Exclusion criteria ①Literatures about the oncogenicity of stem cells.②Reviews and repetitive studies.DATA EXTRACTION A total of 54 literatures about restoration of hearing loss were collected, and 17 papers were in accordance with the criteria,9 papers in which made analysis and evaluation on application of stem cells.DATA SYNTHESIS: Degeneration of inner ear cells, especially sensory hair cells and associated neurons, results in hearing impairment and balance disorders. Since the regeneration capacity of hair cells in cochlear and vestibule of mammals are limited, the loss of sensory hair cells is a major cause of neurosensory deafness, which can be hardly restored and regenerated by themselves. Cell substitutive therapy has a wide prospect in treatment of deafness, which is a hot issue in recent investigations of audition. The best method in transplantation treatment of deafness is to utilize otogenous stem cells. Recently, researchers have isolated embryo-like stem cells respectively from the organ of Corti in adult and newborn rats as well as vestibular utricles of adult mice. Therefore, the inner-ear stem cells are an important source of cells for remodeling the regeneration of hair cells and recovering the auditory function.CONCLUSION: Stem cells play an important role in treatment of hearing impairment induced by hair cells loss, which has a promising prospect in cell substitutive therapy as development of further investigation.