The key to hearing development

Have found an important switch for hearing development: Dr. Mark-Oliver Trowe ( left ) and Andreas Kispert with the image of inner ( red ) and outer (gray) hair cells from the inner ear of the mouse; Copyright: Karin Kaiser / MHH. In our inner ear, there are two different types of sensory cells that are responsible for hearing. An MHH research team has now identified the molecular switch for the formation of these inner and outer hair cells and thus found an important building block for the treatment of hearing loss. The inner and outer hair cells develop before birth from a common type of precursor cells. Which factors control the different development was unknown for a long time. A research team led by Andreas Kispert and Dr. Mark-Oliver Trowe from the Institute of Molecular Biology at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) has now found the key and demonstrated how it controls the process: The gene Tbx2 acts like a switch to determine whether inner or outer hair cells are formed. Vibration transducers and sound amplifiers.