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- Title
The Transcription Factor Sox2 Is Required to Maintain the Cell Type-Specific Properties and Innervation of Type II Vestibular Hair Cells in Adult Mice.
- Authors
Stone, Jennifer S.; Pujol, Rémy; Tot Bui Nguyen; Cox, Brandon C.
- Abstract
The sense of balance relies on vestibular hair cells, which detect head motions. Mammals have two types of vestibular hair cell, I and II, with unique morphological, molecular, and physiological properties. Furthermore, each hair cell type signals to a unique form of afferent nerve terminal. Little is known about the mechanisms in mature animals that maintain the specific features of each hair cell type or its postsynaptic innervation. We found that deletion of the transcription factor Sox2 from Type II hair cells in adult mice of both sexes caused many cells in utricles to acquire features unique to Type I hair cells and to lose Type II-specific features. This cellular transdifferentiation, which included changes in nuclear size, chromatin condensation, soma and stereocilium morphology, and marker expression, resulted in a significantly higher proportion of Type I-like hair cells in all epithelial zones. Furthermore, Sox2 deletion from Type II hair cells triggered non-cell autonomous changes in vestibular afferent neurons; they retracted bouton terminals (normally present on only Type II cells) from transdifferentiating hair cells and replaced them with a calyx terminal (normally present on only Type I cells). These changes were accompanied by significant expansion of the utricle's central zone, called the striola. Our study presents the first example of a transcription factor required to maintain the type-specific hair cell phenotype in adult inner ears. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a single genetic change in Type II hair cells is sufficient to alter the morphology of their postsynaptic partners, the vestibular afferent neurons.
- Subjects
HAIR cells; TRANSCRIPTION factors; INNERVATION; VESTIBULO-ocular reflex; NERVE endings; INNER ear; SKIN innervation
- Publication
Journal of Neuroscience, 2021, Vol 41, Issue 29, p6217
- ISSN
0270-6474
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1523/jneurosci.1831-20.2021