Fluorescent mRNA detection in the adult mouse cochlea.

Ossification and the delicateness of the cochlear duct make histologic assessments of the mature cochlea a challenging endeavor. Treatments to soften the bone facilitate sectioning and dissection of the cochlear duct but limit mRNA detection in such specimens. Here, we provide a protocol for mRNA detection using hybridization chain reaction in whole-mount preparations of the adult mouse cochlea.

Inner ear hair cell-like cells from human embryonic stem cells.

In mammals, the permanence of many forms of hearing loss is the result of the inner ear's inability to replace lost sensory hair cells. Here, we apply a differentiation strategy to guide human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into cells of the otic lineage using chemically defined attached-substrate conditions. The generation of human otic progenitor cells was dependent on fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling, and protracted culture led to the upregulation of markers indicative of differentiated inner ear sensory epithelia.