Tissue-Engineered Cochlear Fibrosis Model Links Complex Impedance to Fibrosis Formation for Cochlear Implant Patients.

ABSTRACT: Cochlear implants are a life-changing technology for those with severe sensorineural hearing loss, partially restoring hearing through direct electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve. However, they are known to elicit an immune response resulting in fibrotic tissue formation in the cochlea that is linked to residual hearing loss and suboptimal outcomes. Intracochlear fibrosis is difficult to track without postmortem histology, and no specific electrical marker for fibrosis exists. In this study, a tissue-engineered model of cochlear fibrosis is developed following implant placement to examine the electrical characteristics associated with fibrotic tissue formation around electrodes. The model is characterized using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and an increase in the resistanc

SUBMITTER: de Rijk SR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11468547 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature