Cure for hearing loss could lie in the proteins of Sea Anemones, says a new research
Unlike birds who can repair their hearing, mammals cannot. However, according to some new research there is a chance that proteins from sea anemones could be the answer.
Sea anemones possess a skill we do not – they can repair cells like those damaged in human ears through loud noises, a new study has shown. Researchers at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette showed the creatures can repair these hair cells after being damaged. They can even rebuild themselves after tearing in half during sexual reproduction.
In laboratory experiments, a cocktail of the proteins triggered rapid recovery of damaged cochlear hair cells.
“It occurred to me that if any animal could recover from damage to its hair bundles, anemones would be the ones,” said lead researcher Dr Glen Watson, from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Hair cells have a bundle of minute hair-like structures on the surface, called stereocilia, that are tethered at the tips by protein strands in a V-shaped formation. It is these tethers that break when hair cells are damaged, causing the stereocilia to collapse.
The scientists extracted proteins from mucus-coating sea anemone bodies that appeared to hold the key to their regenerative powers. They then deprived mouse hair cells of calcium to simulate the serious damage to mammalian hearing organs inflicted by loud blasts of sound.
When the cells were exposed to the sea anemone proteins for an hour they restructured themselves and recovered enough to absorb a marker dye. “The stereocilia splayed rather than occurring in well-organised bundles” said Dr Watson.
This is similar to the way our cochlea cells are damaged by loud sounds. The scientists hope the early research will eventually lead to a treatment for patients with acute hearing loss.
The researchers found evidence mice produce many proteins that are closely related to the sea anemone repair proteins, suggesting that it may be possible to mobilize the same repair mechanisms in mammals with damaged hearing.
Dr Watson hopes that this ground-breaking discovery will eventually lead to a treatment for patients with acute hearing loss.
However, he said it is early days and he is keen to discover the mechanism that could eventually allow sea anemones to restore our hearing.
These findings were published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.
