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Characterization of a unique cell population marked by transgene expression in the adult cochlea of nestin‐CreER T2 /tdTomato‐reporter mice
Author(s) -
Chow Cynthia L.,
Guo Weixiang,
Trivedi Parul,
Zhao Xinyu,
Gubbels Samuel P.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.23747
Subject(s) - nestin , biology , cochlea , spiral ganglion , sox2 , microbiology and biotechnology , stem cell marker , sox10 , neural stem cell , progenitor cell , population , stem cell , hair cell , neuroscience , embryonic stem cell , neural crest , genetics , embryo , demography , sociology , gene
Hair cells in the adult mammalian cochlea cannot spontaneously regenerate after damage, resulting in the permanency of hearing loss. Stem cells have been found to be present in the cochlea of young rodents; however, there has been little evidence for their existence into adulthood. We used nestin‐CreER T2 /tdTomato‐reporter mice to trace the lineage of putative nestin‐expressing cells and their progeny in the cochleae of adult mice. Nestin, an intermediate filament found in neural progenitor cells during early development and adulthood, is regarded as a multipotent and neural stem cell marker. Other investigators have reported its presence in postnatal and young adult rodents; however, there are discrepancies among these reports. Using lineage tracing, we documented a robust population of tdTomato‐expressing cells and evaluated these cells at a series of adult time points. Upon activation of the nestin promoter, tdTomato was observed just below and medial to the inner hair cell layer. All cells colocalized with the stem cell and cochlear‐supporting‐cell marker Sox2 as well as the supporting cell and Schwann cell marker Sox10; however, they did not colocalize with the Schwann cell marker Krox20, spiral ganglion marker NF200, nor glial fibrillary acidic acid (GFAP)‐expressing supporting cell marker. The cellular identity of this unique population of tdTomato‐expressing cells in the adult cochlea of nestin‐CreER T2 /tdTomato mice remains unclear; however, these cells may represent a type of supporting cell on the neural aspect of the inner hair cell layer. J. Comp. Neurol. 523:1474–1487, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.