Assembly of the otoconia complex to the macular sensory epithelium of the vestibule
Assembly of the otoconia complex to the macular sensory epithelium of the vestibule
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DOI：
10.1016/j.brainres.2006.02.083
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发表时间：
2006-05-26
期刊：
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Yamoah, Ebenezer N.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lundberg, Yunxia Wang;Zhao, Xing;Yamoah, Ebenezer N.
在内耳中，刺激感知的特异性通过将三个机械感受器器官（椭圆囊/球囊、嵴和耳蜗）的感觉上皮与不同类型的无细胞基质相关联来实现。只有椭圆囊和球囊有一个非常致密的基质，耳锥复合体，它覆盖在感觉上皮（黄斑）上，并提供惯性质量，以产生机械感受器感知重力和线性加速度所必需的剪切力。这种感觉对于空间定位和平衡是必要的。耳石症的重要性清楚地表现为平衡障碍对老年人群的影响，包括耳石变性，以及耳石脱位的耳管结石和壶腹结石。这强调了需要了解耳石是如何形成和维持的，以及如何防止其退化。迄今为止，已经鉴定了许多耳锥虫相关蛋白，主要是在小鼠和硬骨鱼中。虽然这些蛋白质中的大多数也存在于内耳的其他结构中，但黄斑中的蛋白质的独特集合加上其上皮附近的内淋巴的独特离子微环境可能有助于耳石的位点特异性钙化。根据目前的文献和正在进行的研究，这个小型审查假设一个工作模型，耳石复合体是如何组装的，特别是在前庭的黄斑感觉上皮。该模型的中心假设是蛋白质在螯合钙以在钙缺乏的内淋巴中结晶中是至关重要的。审查还提出了今后需要解决的一些问题。(c)2006 Elsevier B. V.保留所有权利。
In the inner ear, specificity of stimulus perception is achieved by associating the sensory epithelia of the three mechanoreceptor organs, the utricle/saccule, cristae, and cochlea, with distinct types of acellular matrices. Only the utricle and saccule have an extremely dense matrix, the otoconial complex, which overlies the sensory epithelium (macula) and provides inertial mass to generate shearing forces essential for the mechanoreceptors to sense gravity and linear acceleration. Such sensation is necessary for spatial orientation and balance. The importance of otoconia is clearly demonstrated by the impact of balance disorders upon the elderly population that involve otoconia degeneration, as well as by canalithiasis and cupulolithiasis, in which otoconia are dislocated. This underscores the need to understand how otoconia are formed and maintained and how to prevent their degeneration. To date, a number of otoconia-related proteins have been identified mostly in mice and bony fish. Although most of these proteins are also present in other structures of the inner ear, a distinct collection of proteins in the macula plus the unique ionic microenvironment of the endolymph near its epithelium likely contribute to the site-specific calcification of otoconia. Based on the current literature and ongoing research, this mini-review postulates a working model of how the otoconia complex is assembled specifically above the macular sensory epithelium of the vestibule. The central hypothesis of this model is that proteins are critical in sequestering calcium for crystallization in the calcium-poor endolymph. The review also sets forth some issues that need to be resolved in the future. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.