title: Identification of stage-specific markers during differentiation of hair cells from mouse inner ear stem cells or progenitor cells in vitro.
abstract: The induction of inner ear hair cells from stem cells or progenitor cells in the inner ear proceeds through a committed inner ear sensory progenitor cell stage prior to hair cell differentiation. To increase the efficacy of inducing inner ear hair cell differentiation from the stem cells or progenitor cells, it is essential to identify comprehensive markers for the stem cells/progenitor cells from the inner ear, the committed inner ear sensory progenitor cells and the differentiating hair cells to optimize induction conditions. Here, we report that we efficiently isolated and expanded the stem cells or progenitor cells from postnatal mouse cochleae, and induced the generation of inner ear progenitor cells and subsequent differentiation of hair cells. We profiled the gene expression of the stem cells or progenitor cells, the inner ear progenitor cells, and hair cells using aRNA microarray analysis. The pathway and gene ontology (GO) analysis of differentially expressed genes was performed. Analysis of genes exclusively detected in one particular cellular population revealed 30, 38, and 31 genes specific for inner ear stem cells, inner ear progenitor cells, and hair cells, respectively. We further examined the expression of these genes in vivo and determined that Gdf10+Ccdc121, Tmprss9+Orm1, and Chrna9+Espnl are marker genes specific for inner ear stem cells, inner ear progenitor cells, and differentiating hair cells, respectively. The identification of these marker genes will likely help the effort to increase the efficacy of hair cell induction from the stem cells or progenitor cells.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell and Development, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Quanwen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell and Development, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Jiarong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Bone Marrow, The First Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310006, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiangli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell and Development, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell and Development, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Zihua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell and Development, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Cui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell and Development, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Jianling
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell and Development, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell and Development, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China; Departments of Cell Biology and Otolaryngology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell and Development, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China. Electronic address: wjfu@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jinfu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D002645:Chickens; D007758:Ear, Inner / Q000166:cytology*; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*
keywords: Differentiation; Hair cells; Microarray analysis; Progenitor cells; Stem cells