Development of the stria vascularis and potassium regulation in the human fetal cochlea: Insights into hereditary sensorineural hearing loss.

ABSTRACT: Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is one of the most common congenital disorders in humans, afflicting one in every thousand newborns. The majority is of heritable origin and can be divided in syndromic and nonsyndromic forms. Knowledge of the expression profile of affected genes in the human fetal cochlea is limited, and as many of the gene mutations causing SNHL likely affect the stria vascularis or cochlear potassium homeostasis (both essential to hearing), a better insight into the embryological development of this organ is needed to understand SNHL etiologies. We present an investigation on the development of the stria vascularis in the human fetal cochlea between 9 and 18 weeks of gestation (W9-W18) and show the cochlear expression dynamics of key potassium-regulating proteins. At W1

SUBMITTER: Locher H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5024031 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature