Recessive mutations of TMC1 associated with moderate to severe hearing loss

TMC1 encodes a protein required for the normal function of mechanically activated channels that enable sensory transduction in auditory and vestibular hair cells. TMC1 protein is localized at the tips of the hair cell stereocilia, the site of conventional mechanotransduction. In many populations, loss-of-function recessive mutations of TMC1 are associated with profound deafness across all frequencies tested. In six families reported here, variable moderate-to-severe or moderate-to-profound hearing loss co-segregated with STR (short tandem repeats) markers at the TMC1 locus DFNB7/11. Massively parallel and Sanger sequencing of genomic DNA revealed each family co-segregating hearing loss with a homozygous TMC1 mutation: two reported mutations (p.R34X and p.R389Q) and three novel mutations (p.S596R, p.N199I, and c.1404 + 1G > T). TMC1 cDNA sequence from affected subjects homozygous for the donor splice site transversion c.1404 + 1G > T revealed skipping of exon 16, deleting 60 amino acids from the TMC1 protein. Since the mutations in our study cause less than profound hearing loss, we speculate that there is hypo-functional TMC1 mechanotransduction channel activity and that other even less damaging variants of TMC1 may be associated with more common mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss.

Purinergic Mechanisms and Pain

There is a brief introductory summary of purinergic signaling involving ATP storage, release, and ectoenzymatic breakdown, and the current classification of receptor subtypes for purines and pyrimidines. The review then describes purinergic mechanosensory transduction involved in visceral, cutaneous, and musculoskeletal nociception and on the roles played by receptor subtypes in neuropathic and inflammatory pain. Multiple purinoceptor subtypes are involved in pain pathways both as an initiator and modulator. Activation of homomeric P2X3 receptors contributes to acute nociception and activation of heteromeric P2X2/3 receptors appears to modulate longer-lasting nociceptive sensitivity associated with nerve injury or chronic inflammation. In neuropathic pain activation of P2X4, P2X7, and P2Y12 receptors on microglia may serve to maintain nociceptive sensitivity through complex neural-glial cell interactions and antagonists to these receptors reduce neuropathic pain. Potential therapeutic approaches involving purinergic mechanisms will be discussed.

[Cochlear microphonic latency]

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE

By using appropriate instrumentation, we have found that cochlear microphonics (CM) advance or delay their appearance, depending on the sound pressure that generates them. This time variation is on the order of microseconds. We have not found any reference to this behaviour, which is why we make the finding known.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

We used the standard instrumentation specified for the study of CM. The method was based on the phase shift function of the CM according to the intensity of the stimulus.

RESULTS

Latency was observed in CM, and we determined that latency time diminishes as the intensity of the stimulus increases.

CONCLUSIONS

From the sound stimulus to the bioelectric potential transduction, there is a time period of microseconds, the shorter the more powerful the stimulus. This suggests that electromechanical transduction is not a simple mechanical process.

Purinergic mechanisms and pain--an update. Eur J Pharmacol. 2013;716:24-40. [PMID: 23524093 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2013.01.078]

There is a brief summary of the background literature about purinergic signalling. The review then considers purinergic mechanosensory transduction involved in visceral, cutaneous and musculoskeletal nociception and on the roles played by P2X3, P2X2/3, P2X4, P2X7 and P2Y₁₂ receptors in neuropathic and inflammatory pain. Current developments of compounds for the therapeutic treatment of both visceral and neuropathic pain are discussed.

Mechanosensor Channels in Mammalian Somatosensory Neurons

Mechanoreceptive sensory neurons innervating the skin, skeletal muscles and viscera signal both innocuous and noxious information necessary for proprioception, touch and pain. These neurons are responsible for the transduction of mechanical stimuli into action potentials that propagate to the central nervous system. The ability of these cells to detect mechanical stimuli impinging on them relies on the presence of mechanosensitive channels that transduce the external mechanical forces into electrical and chemical signals. Although a great deal of information regarding the molecular and biophysical properties of mechanosensitive channels in prokaryotes has been accumulated over the past two decades, less is known about the mechanosensitive channels necessary for proprioception and the senses of touch and pain. This review summarizes the most pertinent data on mechanosensitive channels of mammalian somatosensory neurons, focusing on their properties, pharmacology and putative identity.