AUDITORY HAIR CELL PRECURSORS IMMORTALIZED FROM THE MAMMALIAN INNER-EAR

Mammalian auditory hair cells are few in number, experimentally inacce ssible, and do not proliferate postnatally or in vitro. Immortal cell lines with the potential to differentiate into auditory hair cells wou ld substantially facilitate auditory research, drug development, and t he isolation of critical molecules involved in hair cell biology. We h ave established two conditionally immortal cell lines that express at least five characteristic hair cell markers. These markers are the tra nscription factor Brn3.1, the alpha 9 subunit of the acetylcholine rec eptor, the stereociliary protein fimbrin and the myosins VI and VIIA. These hair cell precursors permit functional studies of cochlear genes and in the longer term they will provide the means to explore therape utic methods of stimulating auditory hair cell regeneration.