In what could raise fresh hopes for deaf patients, British scientists have grown the delicate hair cells found in the inner ear in a laboratory.
A team at Sheffield University has created the complex hair cells and the neurons needed for hearing from human stem cells -- the scientists found they could encourage stem cells from the inner ears of human foetuses to grow into the highly specialised hearing cells, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.
According to them, eventually the cells could be used to perform cell transplants in deaf patients to replace the hair cells and neurons that are damaged in a form of deafness known as sensorineural hearing loss.
Sensorineural hearing loss is one of the most common forms of deafness, accounting for 90 per cent of cases and affecting millions of people worldwide.
Lead researcher Dr Marcelo Rivolta said: "The hair cells and neurons that give us the ability to hear are only produced during the embryonic stage of development. Once they are damaged or lost, they do not regenerate.
"There is a clear need for a therapy that can regenerate or replace these hair cells and neurons when they are damaged."
In fact, for their research, the scientists obtained stem cells from the cochleae of aborted foetuses. The stem cells that have the capability to be transformed into auditory apparatus needed for hearing disappear rapidly after birth, which is why human bodies cannot repair any damage.
The team found they were able to grow these stem cells in the laboratory and encourage them to turn into hair cells.
It is now conducting tests in animals to see if transplanting these cells will be able to restore hearing.
Rivolta hopes it will be possible to grow these cells from other sources of stem cells such as bone marrow. But, he has warned it could be at least 10 years before human patients could receive stem cell transplants to restore their hearing.
"In the shorter term, these cells also provide us with a very good model for studying the development of human hearing and the effect that new drug treatments may have on them," he said.
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