• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.218-225
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• 2013

In this paper hair bundle feature model and integration method for hair cell models were proposed. The proposed hair bundle feature model was based on spring-damper-mass model. Input of integrated vestibular hair cell model was frequency and output was interspike interval of hair cell that was reflected the feature of hair bundles. Irregular afferents that had a great gain variation showed reduction of negative stiffness section. Regular afferents that had a small gain variation, however, showed same feature with base negative stiffness feature. As a result, integrated vestibular hair cell model showed almost the same modeling data with experimental data in the modeled eleven frequency bands. It is verified that the proposed model is a good model for hair bundle feature modeling.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.9
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• pp.190-199
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• 2014

In this paper, the vestibular hair bundle feature model and integrated vestibular hair cell model were proposed. In conventional modeling studies of vestibular system, only partial mechanisms were modeled, such as the characteristics of the vestibular hair bundles without external forces or the action potential of synapse, and the study about action potential of vestibular afferent considering the characteristics of the vestibular hair bundle was not performed. The proposed integrated vestibular hair cell model reflects external forces considering negative stiffness features of each hair bundles with different regularities of hair cells and our model was compared with conventional model without external forces. As a result, irregular afferent and intermediate afferent with high ratio of firing frequency variations to the changes of external stimulation had small width of negative stiffness section, but the width of the negative stiffness of regular afferent with low ratio was similar to that of conventional negative stiffness features. And the proposed integrated vestibular hair cell model showed almost same results with conventional data with animal experiments in 11 chosen frequency bands. It is verified that our proposed hair bundle feature model is adequately modeled.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.405-408
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• 2007

Vestibular hair cells, the sensory receptors of vestibular organs, selectively amplify miniscule stimuli to attain high sensitivity. Such selective amplification results in compressive nonlinear sensitivity, which plays an important role in expanding dynamic range while ensuring robustness of the system. In this study, negative stiffness mechanism, a mechanism responsible for the selective amplification by vestibular hair cells, is applied to a simple mechanical system consisting of an array of inverted pendulums. The structure and working principle of the system have been inspired by gating spring hypothesis proposing that opening and closing of transduction channels contributes to the global stiffness of vestibular hair bundle. Parameter study was carried out to analyze the effect of each parameter on the compressive nonlinearity of suggested model.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.177-182
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• 2008

Caveolin proteins are mediators of cell death or the survival of injured cells, and they are inhibitors of various signaling pathways. The expression of caveolin-, which is involved in the protein kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway, was examined in the differentiated mouse vestibular cell line UB/UE-1 after gentamicin ototoxicity. Caveolae in the vestibular hair cell of healthy guinea pigs were observed through an electron microscope. UB/UE-1 cells were cultured at 95% $CO_2$ with 5% $O_2$ at $33^{\circ}C$ for 48 hours and at 95% $CO_2$ with 5% $O_2$ at $39^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours for differentiation. Cells were treated with 1 mM gentamicin, 0.02 mM H89 (PKA inhibitor), and then incubated for 24 hours. Caveolin-1 expression was examined by western blotting and PKA activity by a $PepTag^{(R)}$ assay. Caveolae were observed in the vestibular hair cells of healthy guinea pigs by electron microscopy. Caveolin-1 was expressed spontaneously in differentiated UB/UE-1 cells and increased after gentamicin treatment. PKA was also over-activated by gentamicin treatment. Both gentamicin-induced caveolin-1 expression and PKA over-activation were inhibited by H89. These results indicate that gentamicin-induced caveolin-1 expression is mediated by the PKA signaling pathway. We conclude that caveolae/ caveolin activity, induced via a PKA signaling pathway, may be one of the mechanisms of gentamicin-induced ototoxicity.

• Korean Journal of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
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• v.56 no.12
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• pp.749-753
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• 2013

Basically stem cells have characteristics of multi-potency, differentiation into multiple tissue types, and self-renew through proliferation. Recent advances in stem cell biology can make identifying the stem-cell like cells in various mammalian tissues. Stem cells in various tissues can restore damaged tissue. Stem cells from the adult nervous system proliferate to form clonal floating colonies called spheres in vitro, and recent studies have demonstrated sphere formation by cells in the tympanic membrane, vestibular system, spiral ganglion, and partly in the organ of Corti. The presence of stem cells in the ear raises the possibilities for the regeneration of the tympanic membrane & inner ear hair cells & neurons. But the gradual loss of stem cells postnatally in the organ of Corti may correlate with the loss of regenerative capacity and limited hearing restoration. Future strategies using endogenous stem cells in the ear can be the another treatment modality for the patients with intractable inner ear diseases.