Cochlea

The chemical element zinc has been in the last decades strongly studied. It is well known that it is present in some different structures of the Central Nervous System, acting as a co-factor of excitatory glutamatergic synapsis. Its function is not yet fully understood, but it seems to modulate the sensibility of glutamatergic post-sinaptic receptors […]

The auditory system has been the subject on studies of its capability to develop plastic responses to different kinds of lesions. Regeneration has been observed in the peripheral portions of the system, with neogenesis of hair cells in avians, sometimes followed by functional rehabilitation, with electrophysiological confirmation. It has been also noticed the ocurrence of […]

It has long been suspected that an important relationship exists between inner and outer hair cells, and that a disturbance of this relationship could lead to the phenomenon of tinnitus. The electromodel of the auditory system describes one mechanism of this inter-hair cell relationship. Following this model a mechanism exists, driven by mechanosensitive outer hair […]