Autophagy Regulates the Survival of Hair Cells and Spiral Ganglion Neurons in Cases of Noise, Ototoxic Drug, and Age-Induced Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Lingna Guo; Wei Cao; Yuguang Niu; Shuangba He; Renjie Chai; Jianming Yang

doi:10.3389/fncel.2021.760422

Autophagy Regulates the Survival of Hair Cells and Spiral Ganglion Neurons in Cases of Noise, Ototoxic Drug, and Age-Induced Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Front Cell Neurosci. 2021 Oct 13:15:760422. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2021.760422. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Lingna Guo^{1

2}, Wei Cao², Yuguang Niu³, Shuangba He⁴, Renjie Chai^{1

5

6

7}, Jianming Yang²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Jiangsu Province High-Tech Key Laboratory for Bio-Medical Research, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
² Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
³ Department of Ambulatory Medicine, The First Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
⁴ Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Nanjing Tongren Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
⁵ Co-Innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong, China.
⁶ Institute for Stem Cell and Regeneration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁷ Beijing Key Laboratory of Neural Regeneration and Repair, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Inner ear hair cells (HCs) and spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) are the core components of the auditory system. However, they are vulnerable to genetic defects, noise exposure, ototoxic drugs and aging, and loss or damage of HCs and SGNs results in permanent hearing loss due to their limited capacity for spontaneous regeneration in mammals. Many efforts have been made to combat hearing loss including cochlear implants, HC regeneration, gene therapy, and antioxidant drugs. Here we review the role of autophagy in sensorineural hearing loss and the potential targets related to autophagy for the treatment of hearing loss.

Keywords: autophagy; hair cells; hearing loss; mechanism; spiral ganglion neurons.

Publication types

Review