动物实验,基因疗法 z-bo 2020-08-31 435

　　Australian researchers at the University of New South Wales School of Medicine in Australia are using a gene therapy called electrical gene delivery, which uses an electric field to restrict gene delivery to cochlear electrodes. This study provides evidence that gene therapy can enhance hearing in cochlear implants.

　　Using gene therapy to enhance the effect of cochlear implants, people with different degrees of hearing loss will perceive more complex sounds, such as distinguishing different instrument tones, such as the soft tones of triangle bells or pianos. There may be circumstances. Hearing loss usually occurs after the loss of cochlear hair cells. Cochlear hair cells are special cells of the inner ear. They help convert sound vibrations into electrical impulses in nerves. This is the process of hearing sound. Since the 1970s, cochlear implants have been put on the market and partially restore hearing by affecting cochlear implant cells. However, the current cochlear implant cannot restore normal hearing, and its electrode design has remained basically unchanged for decades. In experiments on deaf guinea pigs, Jeremy Pinion and colleagues pointed out that gene therapy can improve the performance of cochlear implants and cochlear nerve cell regeneration by stimulating the regeneration of cochlear nerve cells Various frequencies can be converted into sound perception.

　　Researchers use gene therapy called electrical gene delivery, which uses electric fields to restrict gene delivery near cochlear electrodes (this is related to how genes are delivered through viruses). (A popular expression can cause certain genes to be passed on). Pinion and colleagues injected a DNA solution containing the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene into a guinea pig cochlear implant and used an electrode array to deliver several short electrical pulses to the cochlea. Within a few hours, the cochlear cells received the DNA and began to express Neurotrophin (a protein that helps nerve cell development). The team used the auditory brainstem response test or ABR to test the hearing of guinea pigs; ABR is a common method used to detect hearing in newborns. Electrodes are placed on the top of the head of the guinea pig to detect electricity produced by the cochlear nerve fibers in the brain, which are excited in response to sound. Researchers found that the hearing of guinea pigs has improved significantly-the hearing of these completely deaf guinea pigs has returned to near normal levels. These results provide evidence that gene therapy can enhance hearing in cochlear implants. The researchers then plan to test the cochlear electrical gene delivery technology in clinical trials. A related "key point" article describes these findings.