A cure for deafness may be a step closer after British scientists restored hearing in gerbils using stem cells from human embryos.
They turned the cells, which can potentially become any kind of tissue in the body, into sensory ear cells and then transplanted them into the deaf animals.
About four weeks later, the gerbils’ hearing had improved by an average of 46 per cent, the researchers found.
As well as proving stem cells can be used to repair damaged hearing, it is hoped the breakthrough will lead to new treatments.
It could be a cure for the condition known as auditory neuropathy in which sound enters a person’s ear but the signals from the cochlea nerve to the brain are impaired.
The condition affects 15 per cent of people of all ages who suffer profound deafness.
Cases can be caused by a genetic defect but there is increasing evidence that jaundice at birth and noise exposure later in life play a role.
‘We believe this is an important step forward,’ said Dr Marcelo Rivolta of Sheffield University.
‘We have now a method to produce human cochlea sensory cells that we could use to develop new drugs and treatments, and to study the function of genes.
‘And more importantly, we have the proof-of-concept that human stem cells could be used to repair the ear.
Dr Ralph Holme, of Action on Hearing Loss which co-funded the study, said it is ‘tremendously encouraging.’
‘For the millions of people for whom hearing loss is eroding their quality of life, this can’t come soon enough,’ said the biomedical research expert.
More research is needed and the scientists want to understand the long term implications of this treatment and its safety.
The research is reported in Nature.