An Italian research team did a study on mice with cochlear damage resulting in loss of hearing. They found that transplanation of cord blood stem cells (stem cells collected from the umbilical cord at birth) may repair hearing loss due to cochlear damage. They show that a small number of stem cells located the damaged cochlea and repaired sensory hair cells and neurons.
Researchers tracked the transplanted cells to ensure that they were capable of locating the cochlea. Then they tested whether the cells could help regrow neurons and sensory tissue in the cochlea.
The lead author of the study, Roberto P. Revoltella, MD, PhD, reported, “Our findings show dramatic repair of damage with surprisingly few human-derived cells having migrated to the cochlea.”
Read more at Medical News Today.