The role of Neuroplastin and Otoferlin in Hearing

Sound transduction occurring at cochlear hair cells is important for analysing acoustic information from the outside world. The project of the PhD is to investigate cochlear hair cell basal lateral current profile and the exocytosis of mammalian cochlear hair cells. Here, we investigated two proteins. One is neuroplastin, a cell adhesion molecule which belongs to Basigin family and have been found to be essential for normal development and maintenance of OHC stereocilia. However, we still have a limited understanding on the role of neuroplastin in cochlear hair cells. The other protein is otoferlin, the primary Ca2+ sensor expressed in cochlear hair cell which has an essential role in Ca2+-dependent exocytosis and endocytosis when using constitutive knock-out mouse models. It is unclear whether otoferlin plays a key role in the maintenance of Ca2+-dependent exocytotic function in adult IHCs. The research found that both Neuroplastin and Otoferlins are essential for normal hearing function