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Vincent PFY, Young ED, Edge ASB, Glowatzki E. Auditory hair cells and spiral ganglion neurons regenerate synapses with refined release properties in vitro. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2315599121. [PMID: 39058581 PMCID: PMC11294990 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2315599121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Ribbon synapses between inner hair cells (IHCs) and type I spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) in the inner ear are damaged by noise trauma and with aging, causing "synaptopathy" and hearing loss. Cocultures of neonatal denervated organs of Corti and newly introduced SGNs have been developed to find strategies for improving IHC synapse regeneration, but evidence of the physiological normality of regenerated synapses is missing. This study utilizes IHC optogenetic stimulation and SGN recordings, showing that, when P3-5 denervated organs of Corti are cocultured with SGNs, newly formed IHC/SGN synapses are indeed functional, exhibiting glutamatergic excitatory postsynaptic currents. When using older organs of Corti at P10-11, synaptic activity probed by deconvolution showed more mature release properties, closer to the specialized mode of IHC synaptic transmission crucial for coding the sound signal. This functional assessment of newly formed IHC synapses developed here, provides a powerful tool for testing approaches to improve synapse regeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippe F. Y. Vincent
- The Center for Hearing and Balance, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD21205
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD21205
| | - Eric D. Young
- The Center for Hearing and Balance, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD21205
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD21205
- Department of Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD21205
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD21205
| | - Albert S. B. Edge
- Department of Otolaryngology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA02115
- Eaton-Peabody Laboratory, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA02114
- Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA02115
- Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA02139
| | - Elisabeth Glowatzki
- The Center for Hearing and Balance, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD21205
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD21205
- Department of Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD21205
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Vincent PF, Young ED, Edge AS, Glowatzki E. Auditory Hair Cells and Spiral Ganglion Neurons Regenerate Synapses with Refined Release Properties In Vitro. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.05.561095. [PMID: 38076928 PMCID: PMC10705289 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.05.561095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Ribbon synapses between inner hair cells (IHCs) and type I spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) in the inner ear are damaged by noise trauma and with aging, causing 'synaptopathy 'and hearing loss. Co-cultures of neonatal denervated organs of Corti and newly introduced SGNs have been developed to find strategies for improving IHC synapse regeneration, but evidence of the physiological normality of regenerated synapses is missing. This study utilizes IHC optogenetic stimulation and SGN recordings, showing that newly formed IHC synapses are indeed functional, exhibiting glutamatergic excitatory postsynaptic currents. When older organs of Corti were plated, synaptic activity probed by deconvolution, showed more mature release properties, closer to the highly specialized mode of IHC synaptic transmission that is crucial for coding the sound signal. This newly developed functional assessment of regenerated IHC synapses provides a powerful tool for testing approaches to improve synapse regeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippe F.Y. Vincent
- The Center for Hearing and Balance, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Eric D. Young
- The Center for Hearing and Balance, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
- Department of Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Albert S.B. Edge
- Department of Otolaryngology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Eaton-Peabody Laboratory, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Elisabeth Glowatzki
- The Center for Hearing and Balance, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
- Department of Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
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Liu W, Liu Q, Crozier RA, Davis RL. Analog Transmission of Action Potential Fine Structure in Spiral Ganglion Axons. J Neurophysiol 2021; 126:888-905. [PMID: 34346782 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00237.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Action potential waveforms generated at the axon initial segment (AIS) are specialized between and within neuronal classes. But is the fine structure of each electrical event retained when transmitted along myelinated axons or is it rapidly and uniformly transmitted to be modified again at the axon terminal? To address this issue action potential axonal transmission was evaluated in a class of primary sensory afferents that possess numerous types of voltage-gated ion channels underlying a complex repertoire of endogenous firing patterns. In addition to their signature intrinsic electrophysiological heterogeneity, spiral ganglion neurons are uniquely designed. The bipolar, myelinated somata of type I neurons are located within the conduction pathway, requiring that action potentials generated at the first heminode must be conducted through their electrically excitable membrane. We utilized this unusual axonal-like morphology to serve as a window into action potential transmission to compare locally-evoked action potential profiles to those generated peripherally at their glutamatergic synaptic connections with hair cell receptors. These comparisons showed that the distinctively-shaped somatic action potentials were highly correlated with the nodally-generated, invading ones for each neuron. This result indicates that the fine structure of the action potential waveform is maintained axonally, thus supporting the concept that analog signaling is incorporated into each digitally-transmitted action potential in the specialized primary auditory afferents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenke Liu
- Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, United States.,Institute for System Genetics, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States
| | - Qing Liu
- Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, United States.,Inscopix, Inc., Palo Alto, California, United States
| | - Robert A Crozier
- Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, United States.,Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc., New York, NY, United States
| | - Robin L Davis
- Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, United States
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Niwa M, Young ED, Glowatzki E, Ricci AJ. Functional subgroups of cochlear inner hair cell ribbon synapses differently modulate their EPSC properties in response to stimulation. J Neurophysiol 2021; 125:2461-2479. [PMID: 33949873 PMCID: PMC8285665 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00452.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) form single synapses on inner hair cells (IHCs), transforming sound-induced IHC receptor potentials into trains of action potentials. SGN neurons are classified by spontaneous firing rates as well as their threshold response to sound intensity levels. We investigated the hypothesis that synaptic specializations underlie mouse SGN response properties and vary with pillar versus modiloar synapse location around the hair cell. Depolarizing hair cells with 40 mM K+ increased the rate of postsynaptic responses. Pillar synapses matured later than modiolar synapses. Excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC) amplitude, area, and number of underlying events per EPSC were similar between synapse locations at steady state. However, modiolar synapses produced larger monophasic EPSCs when EPSC rates were low and EPSCs became more multiphasic and smaller in amplitude when rates were higher, while pillar synapses produced more monophasic and larger EPSCs when the release rates were higher. We propose that pillar and modiolar synapses have different operating points. Our data provide insight into underlying mechanisms regulating EPSC generation. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Data presented here provide the first direct functional evidence of late synaptic maturation of the hair cell- spiral ganglion neuron synapse, where pillar synapses mature after postnatal day 20. Data identify a presynaptic difference in release during stimulation. This difference may in part drive afferent firing properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mamiko Niwa
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.,Center for Hearing and Balance, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.,Department of Otolaryngology-Head, and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Eric D Young
- Center for Hearing and Balance, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.,Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Elisabeth Glowatzki
- Center for Hearing and Balance, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.,Department of Otolaryngology-Head, and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.,Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Anthony J Ricci
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.,Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University, Stanford, California
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