Publicado em 14/09/2012
Human Stem Cells Restore Hearing in Deaf Gerbils - as part of the news series by GeoBeats.
Human embryonic stem cells might be able to treat deafness. Scientists have successfully fixed the hearing of deaf gerbils using human stem cells to treat damaged auditory pathway cells for the first time.
The gerbils' hearing ability was restored to approximately 45% on average. A third were not drastically effected by the treatment, and a third substantially improved their hearing up to 90 percent.
Loss of hearing is caused by two factors - damaged hair cells in the ear that pick up the sound, and damaged neurons that transfer the message to the brain. If the hair cells are damaged then the neurons die off due to not being used.
The human stem cells were converted into cells similar to the lost neuron cells in the gerbils, and transplanted into their ears. Scientist think that the stem cell treatment could be used together with implants to treat deafness in humans.
Biomedical researcher for the organization Action on Hearing Loss, Doctor Ralph Holme said: "The research is tremendously encouraging and gives us real hope that it will be possible to fix the actual cause of some types of hearing loss in the future."
Do you think stem cells should be used in scientific research?
Human embryonic stem cells might be able to treat deafness. Scientists have successfully fixed the hearing of deaf gerbils using human stem cells to treat damaged auditory pathway cells for the first time.
The gerbils' hearing ability was restored to approximately 45% on average. A third were not drastically effected by the treatment, and a third substantially improved their hearing up to 90 percent.
Loss of hearing is caused by two factors - damaged hair cells in the ear that pick up the sound, and damaged neurons that transfer the message to the brain. If the hair cells are damaged then the neurons die off due to not being used.
The human stem cells were converted into cells similar to the lost neuron cells in the gerbils, and transplanted into their ears. Scientist think that the stem cell treatment could be used together with implants to treat deafness in humans.
Biomedical researcher for the organization Action on Hearing Loss, Doctor Ralph Holme said: "The research is tremendously encouraging and gives us real hope that it will be possible to fix the actual cause of some types of hearing loss in the future."
Do you think stem cells should be used in scientific research?
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário