China News Service Online, July 10 (Sun Guogen, Chen Jing) In China, 70% of deaf patients are sensorineural deafness, mainly due to damage and loss of inner ear hair cells.

  The reporter learned from the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital of Fudan University on the 10th that the clinical research team of Professor Li Huawei, the director of the Department of Otolaryngology, and Deputy Chief Physician Li Wenyan, after 17 years of research, regulated inner ear stem cells and promoted a new mechanism for hair cell regeneration.

International stem cell field "Stem Cell" published research results of Chinese scholars. Thesis screenshot

  The latest research results will bring new hope for the treatment of deafness. Professor Li Huawei told reporters that the important journal "Stem Cell" in the field of stem cells published this important achievement in the form of a cover paper.

  In an interview, Li Huawei stated that mammalian hair cells cannot be regenerated once damaged, which is the main reason that makes deafness difficult to cure. Therefore, "activating hair cell regeneration to promote the repair of auditory function" has always been a research difficulty and a hot spot in the field of biological treatment of sensorineural hearing loss in the world.

  In order to overcome this world problem, Li Huawei and Li Wenyan's clinical research team began a difficult exploration. In 2003, they isolated stem cells from the inner ear of adult mammals for the first time. Since then, the clinical research team has been conducting in-depth research on biological methods that regulate inner ear stem cells to promote hair cell regeneration and promote the restoration of auditory function.

  According to Li Wenyan, the microenvironment of stem cell survival has a very important effect on the activity of stem cells. After in-depth research, they were the first to discover the mechanical and physical effects of the extracellular microenvironment, which can up-regulate the mechanical transduction signals in inner ear stem cells, induce cytoskeletal remodeling, and thereby promote the proliferation of stem cells, and further effectively regulate the expansion of inner ear stem cells and promote hair growth. Cell regeneration.

  This research provides a potential intervention target for promoting the regeneration of inner ear hair cells, is of great significance for the reconstruction of the structural integrity of the inner ear sensory epithelium, and brings new hope for the treatment of sensorineural deafness. (Finish)