时事资讯:一条小鱼可以拯救你的听力？_时事

时事资讯:一条小鱼可以拯救你的听力？

【英文原文】

Can A Tiny Fish Save Your Ears?

Photo Researchers

For many people, loss of hearing is irreversible.

For scientists trying to figure out what can be done about that, one answer may lie -- or swim, actually -- in freshwater aquariums.

About one of every 10 Americans suffers from hearing impairment, according to a survey conducted by the Better Hearing Institute, a nonprofit advocacy group. By far the most common cause of hearing loss is damage to the so-called hair cells in the inner ear as a result of excessive noise, certain illnesses and drugs, and simple aging. The problem is that once hair cells die, humans (like other mammals) aren't able to grow new ones.

In recent years, a research team at the University of Washington in Seattle has been working on finding a way to resolve that problem in experiments involving the zebrafish, a common aquarium denizen. The zebrafish, like many aquatic creatures, has clusters of hair cells running along the outside of its body that help sense vibrations in the water, working in a similar way to hair cells in the human inner ear. But unlike humans, zebrafish are able to regenerate their damaged hair cells. Researchers hope their work can unlock secrets to protect human hair cells from becoming damaged and to stimulate the cells to regenerate.

Hair cells, which took their name because under the microscope they look like cells with little hairs growing out of them, are an essential link in hearing. The filament hairs, or cilia, bend with vibrations caused by sound waves entering the ear. That induces the hair cell to create an electrical signal that is passed on to the auditory nerve and sent to the brain. Devices such as hearing aids, which amplify sounds, and cochlear implants, which stimulate the auditory nerve directly, help people hear, but neither restores hearing to normal.