Approaches to regenerate hair cell and spiral ganglion neuron in the inner ear

The cochlear hair cells are the primary sensory structures accountable for interpreting the mechanical sound waves by converting into neural impulses. The degeneration of these sensory hair cells is irreversible in mammals and if severe damage occurs to the HCs, the deficit may result in permanent hearing loss. The present hearing rehabilitation approaches, including hearing aids and cochlear implants, partially restore hearing mechanism; however, the quality of perceived sound does not really match with the normal hearing ear. Therefore, much attention has been paid on developing regenerative therapies such as gene therapy and stem cells therapy to treat the damaged organ of Corti. These therapies are promising to stimulate the mechanism of regeneration/development in hair cells and spiral ganglion neuron, thus to recover deafness. This chapter specifically presents these two strategies and comprehensively explain their current applications to regenerate hair cells and spiral ganglion neurons in the mammalian inner ear.