Regeneration of Vertebrate Sensory Receptor Cells

Topics covered in the CIBA Foundation symposium on which this book is based include regeneration in epithelial proliferative units as exemplified by small intestinal crypts; hair cell regeneration in the avian inner ear; and retinal regeneration in teleost fish.

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Regeneration of Vertebrate Sensory Receptor Cells Chairman: E.W. Rubel 1991 Sensory receptor cells are responsible for our ability to interact effectively with our environment; loss of these cells leads to serious impairment - thus one in 800 babies is born deaf, and one in ten adults suffers hearing loss serious enough to restrict language comprehension. The permanence of sensory disability varies widely across sensory systems and across vertebrate species: in humans, taste buds and olfactory cells are replaced, whereas loss of inner ear and retinal receptors results in permanent disability. Research in lower vertebrates, however, indicates that regeneration after injury can lead to the restoration of normal function, and recent research in birds shows that hair cells proliferate after damage to the inner ear. This finding has stimulated much research activity in the field of sensory cell regeneration. In this symposium an international group of investigators met to discuss progress in our knowledge of sensory structures in lower and higher vertebrates.
Experts in two other relevant fields - the cell cycle, and mitogenic growth factors - also contributed to the search for the precursors and/or stem cells in each sense organ and for the signals which regulate differentiation of those precursors, in normal development and potentially in regeneration. While regeneration of the mammalian inner ear or retina is still some way off, much is already being learned about the cellular processes underlying regeneration in other sensory systems and is being actively applied to the more intractable ones. The symposium should interest a broad range of cell biologists beyond those already involved in sensory receptor function and regeneration.Other Ciba Foundation Symposia: No. 138 Plasticity of the neuromuscular system Chairman: A.J. Buller 1988 ISBN 0 471 91902 0 No. 144 Cellular basis of morphogenesis Chairman: L. Wolpert 1989 ISBN 0 471 92306 0 No. 153 Steroids and neuronal activity Chairman: M.A. Simmonds 1990 ISBN 0 471 92689 2 No. 155 Myopia and the control of eye growth Chairman: J. Wallman 1990 ISBN 0 471 92692 2