Scientists are close to curing partial deafness
It’s a breakthrough in the medical world for hearing. Scientists have restored the hearing of partly deafened mice by boosting the production of a key protein in their ears.
By demonstrating the importance of the protein, called NT3, in maintaining communication between the ears and brain, these new findings pave the way for research in humans that could improve treatment of hearing loss caused by noise exposure and normal aging.
In the online journal eLife the team from the University of Michigan Medical School's Hearing Research Institute and Harvard University report, it is stated that a new understanding that NT3 is crucial to the body's ability to form and maintain connections between hair cells and nerve cells.
The researchers made it possible for some mice to produce additional NT3 in cells of specific areas of the inner ear after they were exposed to noise loud enough to reduce hearing- educed ribbon synapses.
So what does it mean?
In laymen’s terms, if you are suffering hearing loss that is a direct result from ribbon snapses, it is due to exposure to loud noises (either sudden noises or gradual ones over a period of time). Since the mice that were given NT3 recovered from this, we may be on the way to a treatment or possible a cure for this specific type of hearing loss.