Genetic & pharmacological strategy for treatment &prevention of sensori-neural hearing loss

Sensorineural hearing loss affects approximately 17 in every 1000 children. The incidence increases with age. Recent experiments have demonstrated that noise exposure and amino glycoside treatment lead to apoptosis of the hair cells. In birds, this programmed cell death induces the adjacent supporting cells to undergo regeneration to replace the lost hair cells. Current experiments on genetic manipulation, gene therapy, and stem cell transplantation suggest that regeneration in the mammalian cochlea may eventually be possible. Also, there are many therapies that have been tried to prevent & treat sensorineural hearing loss including steroids, antioxidant, neurotrophics, magnesium, T-type calcium channel blockers, antivirals & hyperparic oxygen.