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Dr. Drescher is investigating the molecular workings of hair cells which affect deafness, vertigo and other maladies of the inner ear. |
"Despite the fact that hearing and balance are taken to be two quite different senses by the average person, they really are biologically very closely related, because they both use hair cells. These hair cells, when you examine them under a microscope, look extremely similar," explained Dennis Drescher, PhD, professor of otolaryngology. "We know embryologically that they even come from the same roots."
The sensory receptor cells of hearing and balance, hair cells are squat cells topped with hair-like stereocilia, which are tiny extensions of the cytoplasm, he described. "When the stereocilia wiggle, they produce depolarization of the hair cell, so that there is a change in voltage, just as in a microphone," Dr. Drescher said.
Before doctors can effectively treat deafness, vertigo and other maladies of the inner ear, Dr. Drescher said scientists need to learn more about the molecular workings of the hair cells. He heads up a research team with co-principal investigator Marian Drescher, PhD, who are together advancing the knowledge base with work funded by a $1.3 million, five-year grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
They are studying three molecular elements: voltage-gated calcium channels that trigger the release of neurotransmitters; neurotransmitters that relay the signal from the hair cell to the afferent nerve and ultimately to the brain; and neurotransmitter receptors that receive the transmitters and register that a signal should start in the afferent nerve.
"These receptors are very important because they are the key element for alteration by means of drugs and medications," Dr. Drescher said. "This work deals with understanding the receptors’ chemical nature: What is special about them? In order to design such medications, we first have to know what their biochemical structure is, and that’s the unknown right now."