[Animal modeling]-Cochlear implants have been upgraded due to gene therapy

  Researchers at the University of New South Wales School of Medicine in Australia use a gene therapy called electrical gene delivery. It uses electric fields to limit gene delivery near cochlear electrodes. This study provides evidence that gene therapy can enhance hearing in cochlear implants. When gene therapy is used to improve the effectiveness of cochlear implants, people with varying degrees of hearing loss a day will distinguish between different instrument tones, such as triangular and soft piano sounds. You may feel more complex sounds.

  Hearing loss usually occurs after the loss of cochlear hair cells. Cow hair cells are special cells in the inner ear that help convert sound vibrations into electrical impulses in nerves. This is the process that makes hearing sound possible. Since the 1970s, cochlear implants have been put on the market and partially restore hearing by affecting the hair cells of the cochlea. However, current cochlear implants cannot restore hearing, and their electrode design has remained basically unchanged in the past few decades. In an experiment with a completely deaf guinea pig, Jeremy Pinion and others found that gene therapy can improve the performance of cochlear implants by stimulating the regeneration of cochlear nerve cells that convert different frequencies into sounds . I pointed it out. Researchers use a type of gene therapy called electrical gene delivery. It uses an electric field to limit the transmission of genes near the cochlear electrodes (this is related to the way genes and viruses are transmitted. The transmission of genes and viruses can produce specific genes. There is a popular way of expression. Pinyon et al. will contain brain-derived nerves) The DNA solution of the trophic factor (BDNF) gene is injected into the cochlear implant of the guinea pig, and the electrode array is used to deliver multiple short electrical pulses to the cochlear implant. Within a few hours, the cochlear cells receive the DNA and begin to express Neurotrophin (a kind of helpful Proteins for nerve cell development). The research team used the auditory brain tapping response test or ABR to test the hearing of guinea pigs. ABR is a common method used to detect hearing in newborns. Electrodes are located on the top of the head of guinea pigs to detect the cochlear nerves in the brain The electricity generated by the fiber, which excites in response to sound.

  Researchers have discovered that the hearing of guinea pigs has been significantly improved-the hearing of guinea pigs that were once completely deaf 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. Related "Focus" articles describe these findings.