Disruption and restoration of cell–cell junctions in mouse vestibular epithelia following aminoglycoside treatment

The Postnatal Accumulation of Junctional E-Cadherin Is Inversely Correlated with the Capacity for Supporting Cells to Convert Directly into Sensory Hair Cells in Mammalian Balance Organs

“…Comparable F-actin belts in SCs of regenerating fish, amphibians, and birds stay thin throughout life (Burns et al, 2008), suggesting that the properties of the SC-SC junctions in mammalian ears may be responsible for restricting HC regeneration. Consistent with that notion, avian vestibular epithelia express little or no E-cadherin, but E-cadherin is strongly expressed in vestibular epithelia of rodents (Hackett et al, 2002; Kim et al, 2002; Kim et al, 2005; Warchol, 2007). Also, forced E-cadherin expression has been shown to inhibit the differentiation of certain HC-like characteristics in cell lines derived from the ear of the immortomouse (Hackett et al, 2002).…”

Characterization of supporting cell phenotype in the avian inner ear: Implications for sensory regeneration

“…Supporting cells in the mammalian utricle are strongly immunoreactive for E-cadherin, while hair cells express much lower levels of E-cadherin (Hackett et al, 2002;Kim et al, 2002Kim et al, , 2005. Interestingly, the pattern of cadherin expression in the sensory epithelium of the mammalian cochlea is not uniform, but changes abruptly at the pillar cell region.…”

“…Notably, the latter two signals have been shown to regulate proliferation in the mammalian organ of Corti (Chen and Segil, 1999;Lowenheim et al, 1999;Sage et al, 2005). The death of hair cells will break cadherin-mediated cell-cell junctions (e.g., Kim et al, 2005) and it is possible that this may trigger changes in p27 expression. Also, the disruption of E-cadherin-vs. N-cadherin-mediated junctions might activate diVerent downstream signaling pathways, which may partly account for the diVerences in regenerative abilities in the mammalian vs. avian ear.…”

A rapid approach to ultrastructural evaluation and DNA analysis of the vestibular labyrinth and ganglion in dogs and cats

“…Ampulles in cats and small dogs displayed a more (Kimura et al, 1964;Hunter-Duvar, 1983;Friedmann and Ballantyne, 1984;Kawamata et al, 1986;Igarashi, 1989;Scarfone et al, 1991;ten Cate and Rarey, 1992;Kikuchi et al, 1994;Hackett et al, 2002;Kim et al, 2005). Mv = mikrovilli, TJ = tight junction, AJ = adherens junction, GJ = gap junction, JC = illdefined junctional complex.…”