Genetic and pharmacologic alterations of claudin9 levels suffice to induce functional and mature inner hair cells.
Yingying ChenJeong Han LeeJin LiSeojin ParkMaria C Perez FloresBraulio PegueroJennifer KersigoMincheol KangJinsil ChoiLauren LevineMichael Anne GrattonBernd FritzschEbenezer N YamoahPublished in: bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology (2023)
Hearing loss is the most common form of sensory deficit. It occurs predominantly due to hair cell (HC) loss. Mammalian HCs are terminally differentiated by birth, making HC loss incurable. Here, we show the pharmacogenetic downregulation of Cldn9, a tight junction protein, generates robust supernumerary inner HCs (IHCs) in mice. The putative ectopic IHCs have functional and synaptic features akin to typical IHCs and were surprisingly and remarkably preserved for at least fifteen months >50% of the mouse's life cycle. In vivo, Cldn9 knockdown using shRNA on postnatal days (P) P1-7 yielded analogous functional putative ectopic IHCs that were equally durably conserved. The findings suggest that Cldn9 levels coordinate embryonic and postnatal HC differentiation, making it a viable target for altering IHC development pre- and post-terminal differentiation.
Keyphrases
- life cycle
- preterm infants
- hearing loss
- induced apoptosis
- cell proliferation
- transcription factor
- cell therapy
- type diabetes
- single cell
- dna methylation
- metabolic syndrome
- oxidative stress
- gene expression
- cell cycle arrest
- pregnant women
- copy number
- cell death
- gestational age
- insulin resistance
- skeletal muscle
- protein protein