A cure for deafness could be on the horizon after scientists created specialised ear cells in the lab.
Grown in their thousands, the delicate hairs could one day be transplanted into the inner ear, restoring hearing to millions.
The breakthrough comes after ten years of painstaking research.
It may also allow some balance disorders to be eased and aid the search for drugs to prevent people from becoming hard of hearing.
Age-related hearing loss affects half of Britons aged 60 and over and there is currently no way of holding it at bay.
Hearing aids amplify sounds but nothing can give sufferers back the hearing they once had.
In the latest research at Stanford University, California, scientists perfected turning stem cells - blank cells which can turn into other cell types - into the delicate hairs found in the inner ear. ones.
The linch-pin of hearing and balance, thousands of these hairs help convert sound vibrations into nerve impulses which are decoded by the brain.
Ageing, noise and general wear and tear make them wither away and, until now, there was no way of replacing them.
The hairs made in the lab from mice looked and acted like the real thing, the journal Cell reports.
Researcher Stefan Heller said: 'We knew it was really working when we saw them in the electron microscope.
'They looked more or less like they were taken out of the ear.'
If the same technique can be applied to human cells, within ten years it may be possible to transplant-the delicate hairs to restore hearing.
Using slivers of the patient's skin as a source of the stem cells means that any hairs generated would be a perfect match for their body.
It also raises the tantalising possibility of creating drugs to coax the ear into growing more hair cells of its own accord.We may be only 10 years away on witnessing the impossible.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1278160/Deafness-cure-breakthrough-scientists-create-tiny-ear-hairs-stem-cells.html#ixzz1MIzLjDfu
7 comments:
I'm trying not to be negative Mike, we have read so many false dawns. I read in 1995 6 daily papers here stating exactly what you posted here, a 'cure' soon, actually they said 5 years, 11 years on we are still waiting, OK if you are a mouse you have something to look forward too lol... I volunteered here to be experimented on to see if the cell regeneration would work on humans, they said no too dangerous ! (Maybe they though I had an cheese allegy lol)...
No matter, the time is getting closer. Secondly, in 1995 they didn't have a petri dish full of ear hair cells that were exactly the kind they saw in mouse. Ever since that time researchers and scientists have learned alot from stem cells.
I agree, we are getting closer...
a bit off topic, yet not so much...
"Hearing aids amplify sounds but nothing can give sufferers back the hearing they once had."
Sufferers...
This is the second time I have seen this word related to hearing loss, in one week.
A point has to be made that deaf folks need to understand that deaf/hh are indeed suffering from lack of hearing even if they all are happily deaf/hh.
By looking at the context of the sentence rather than the word itself, one has to agree that some folks do go viral easily.
'Suffer' does not always mean one is in agony. Not at all.
*shrieks*
I can't wait but I'm a very patient person!
Since losing all of my hearing 15 years ago, I know what it's like to miss out on some things... Small things like hearing my kittens meowing. Distinguishing my kids' German accent from the "norm", and my extended family's Boston accent, and hearing my husband's gruffy laughter.
And catch/bust my hearing students verbalizing during test... Too numerous to list.
My Deaf sister has CI (2002) and she liked it at first, however after 3 years or so, the novelty wore off and she isn't too fond of wearing it now. I used her experience as a gauge for myself.
I AM getting in the line for this and hopefully it will fix my equilibrium disorder as well.
I suffer with my deafness no doubt about it, that I cope doesn't mean there is no issue. I dream of a cure despite coping every day. Denial ? don't agree !
I'm 54 & HH my whole life. It's held me back tremenduously in life. No following in my Dad's footsteps and doing a stint in the Navy. Can't move up in a company because managers talk all the time and I don't hear very well. I'd love to have normal hearing but the pace of research is glacially slow. It'll probably happen (i.e. A cure) but not in my lifetime.
I'm 29 years old now I've been praying and wishing my whole life for a cure. What kills me the most is losing more and more hearing as years keep on rolling what scare me the most it hard enough to get a good job bc no one like talking to a hard of hearing person I hope this cure come soon bc if I ever go 100% deaf there no point to keep living cant hear my son speak to me yet alone I love the sound of a big block engine or turbo engine life was hard enough being treated diffrent and trying to fit the normal people : / so please find this cure
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