Taraxerol exerts potent anticancer effects via induction of apoptosis and inhibition of Nf-kB signalling pathway in human middle ear epithelial cholesteatoma cells

Purpose: To investigate the effect of taraxerol on the proliferation of middle ear epithelial cholesteatoma cells.Methods: The anti-proliferative effect of taraxerol was investigated by cell counting kit-8 (CCK8) and clonogenic assays. Apoptosis was measured using DAPI, while mitochondrial membrane potential was determined with the aid of rhodamine 123 staining. Protein expression was studied by western blotting.Results: Taraxerol induced concentration-dependent anti-proliferative effects on the middle ear epithelial cholesteatoma cells, and also inhibited their colony formation potential. The drug induced apoptosis in the middle ear epithelial cholesteatoma cells by reducing mitochondrial membrane potential, and also triggered sub-G1 cell cycle arrest in these cells. Moreover, taraxerol inhibited the expression of Nf-kB.Conclusion: These findings reveal that taraxerol may be a potential lead compound for the treatment of middle ear cholesteatoma.Keywords: Cholesteatoma, Epithelial tissues, Taraxerol, Apoptosis, Cell cycle arres

Hair cell damage recruited Lgr5-expressing cells are hair cell progenitors in neonatal mouse utricle

Damage-activated stem/progenitor cells play important roles in regenerating lost cells and in tissue repair. Previous studies reported that the mouse utricle has limited hair cell regeneration ability after hair cell ablation. However, the potential progenitor cell population regenerating new hair cells remains undiscovered. In this study, we first found that Lgr5, a Wnt target gene that is not usually expressed in the neonatal mouse utricle, can be activated by 24 hour neomycin treatment in a sub-population of supporting cells in the striolar region of the neonatal mouse utricle. Lineage tracing demonstrated that these Lgr5-positive supporting cells could regenerate new hair cells in explant culture. We isolated the damage-activated Lgr5-positive cells with flow cytometry and found that these Lgr5-positive supporting cells could regenerate hair cells in vitro, and self-renew to form spheres, which maintained the capacity to differentiate into hair cells over seven generations of passages. Our results suggest that damage-activated Lgr5-positive supporting cells act as hair cell progenitors in the neonatal mouse utricle, which may help to uncover a potential route to regenerate hair cell in mammals

Effects of an Intratympanic Injection of Dexamethasone Combined with Gentamicin on the Expression Level of Serum P0 Protein Antibodies in Patients with Meniere’s Disease

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of an intratympanic injection of dexamethasone combined with gentamicin on the expression level of serum P0 protein antibodies in patients with Meniere’s disease (MD). METHODS: A total of 136 patients with MD treated in our hospital were enrolled in this study. Among them, 68 patients were treated with an intratympanic injection of dexamethasone combined with gentamicin (observation group). Another 68 patients were treated with gentamicin alone (control group). RESULTS: After treatment, the expression levels of IgG and IgM in the two groups significantly decreased (po0.05); the levels in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (po0.05). The incidences of vertigo, tinnitus, and gait instability in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (po0.05). Vestibular symptom index (VSI) scores in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (po0.05). We observed no significant difference between the two groups in the number of vertigo attacks 6 months after treatment (p40.05). CONCLUSION: For patients with MD, dexamethasone combined with gentamicin can reduce the incidence of vertigo, tinnitus, and gait instability, but it has no effect on the efficacy or number of vertigo attacks 6 months after treatment. Therefore, the levels of myelin P0 protein antibodies after treatment can be used as predictors of vertigo at 6 months after treatment