Isolation and Characterization of Mammalian Otic Progenitor Cells that Can Differentiate into Both Sensory Epithelial and Neuronal Cell Lineages.

The mammalian inner ear mediates hearing and balance and during development generates both cochleo-vestibular ganglion neurons and sensory epithelial receptor cells, that is, hair cells and support cells. Cell marking experiments have shown that both hair cells and support cells can originate from a common progenitor. Here, we demonstrate the lineage potential of individual otic epithelial cell clones using three cell lines established by a combination of limiting dilution and gene-marking techniques from an embryonic day 12 (E12) rat otocyst.

Multifocal hyperfunctioning thyroid carcinoma without metastases.

Hyperthyroidism due to thyroid carcinoma is rare, and most cases are caused by hyperfunctioning metastatic thyroid carcinoma rather than primary carcinoma. Among primary hyperfunctioning thyroid carcinoma, multifocal thyroid carcinoma is exceedingly rare, with the only one case being reported in the literature. Here, we describe the case of a 62-year-old woman with multifocal functioning thyroid carcinoma.

Therapeutic outcomes of oral cancers at Kyoto University Hospital.

Conclusion: The results suggest that early diagnosis and treatment are the most important factors to improve the prognosis in oral cancer patients.

Objective: In this retrospective study we analyzed the therapeutic outcome of oral cancers at out institute.

Patients And Methods: Thirty-one patients with oral cancers were treated between January 2000 and December 2004 at the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kyoto University Hospital.

OC29 is preferentially expressed in the presumptive sensory organ region of the otocyst.

The mammalian inner ear derives from the otocyst. Molecular mechanisms underlying inner ear development are largely unknown. We have isolated a secreted molecule, OC29, from a rat otocyst cDNA library by the signal sequence trap method.

Expression of calretinin by fetal otocyst cells after transplantation into damaged rat utricle explants.

Severe damage by acoustic overstimulation or ototoxins induces inner ear hair cell loss, resulting in permanent hearing loss and balance disorders because hair cell regeneration scarcely occurs in the inner ear sensory organs of mammals. In this study, to evaluate the possibilities of cell transplantation therapy for damaged inner ear sensory organs, dissociated cell cultures of fetal otocyst cells (FOCs) were established from embryonic day 12.5 (E12.

Transplantation of neural stem cells into explants of rat inner ear.

Damage and loss of hair cells in the inner ear is the most frequent cause of hearing loss and balance disorders. Mammalian hair cells do not regenerate in the conventional ways. To regenerate the hair cell in the mammalian inner ear we transplanted neural stem cells into explants of rat inner ear.

Generation of inner ear hair cell immunophenotypes from neurospheres obtained from fetal rat central nervous system in vitro.

Neural stem cells are suggested to possess a highly plastic ability to differentiate into several specific cell types, not only neuronal lineages but also other germ layer tissue-specific cell lineages. To examine whether hair cell immunophenotypes could be derived from the central nervous system (CNS), we established cell cultures from embryonic day 16.5 fetal rat brain tissues, and analyzed changes in immunohistochemical features of the CNS cell cultures by induction of differentiation.