Mapping the Developmental Potential of Mouse Inner Ear Organoids at Single-cell Resolution

Overview

Journal iScience

Publisher Cell Press

Date 2024 Feb 20

PMID 38375227

Authors

Joerg Waldhaus

Linghua Jiang

Liqian Liu

Jie Liu

Robert Keith Duncan

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Inner ear organoids recapitulate development and are intended to generate cell types of the otic lineage for applications such as basic science research and cell replacement strategies. Here, we use single-cell sequencing to study the cellular heterogeneity of late-stage mouse inner ear organoid sensory epithelia, which we validated by comparison with datasets of the mouse cochlea and vestibular epithelia. We resolved supporting cell sub-types, cochlear-like hair cells, and vestibular type I and type II-like hair cells. While cochlear-like hair cells aligned best with an outer hair cell trajectory, vestibular-like hair cells followed developmental trajectories similar to programs branching into type II and then type I extrastriolar hair cells. These results highlight the transcriptional accuracy of the organoid developmental program but will also inform future strategies to improve synaptic connectivity and regional specification.

Citing Articles

A developmental atlas of mouse vestibular-like inner ear organoids.

Matern M, Heller S iScience. 2025; 28(2):111817.

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Metabolic Profiling of Cochlear Organoids Identifies α-Ketoglutarate and NAD as Limiting Factors for Hair Cell Reprogramming.

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