The Detrimental and Beneficial Functions of Macrophages After Cochlear Injury

Yuan Zhang; Yiyuan Li; Xiaolong Fu; Pengjun Wang; Qin Wang; Wei Meng; Tian Wang; Jianming Yang; Renjie Chai

doi:10.3389/fcell.2021.631904

The Detrimental and Beneficial Functions of Macrophages After Cochlear Injury

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 Aug 11:9:631904. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.631904. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yuan Zhang^{1

2

3}, Yiyuan Li¹, Xiaolong Fu¹, Pengjun Wang⁴, Qin Wang⁵, Wei Meng², Tian Wang⁵, Jianming Yang⁶, Renjie Chai^{1

3

7}

Affiliations

¹ MOE Key Laboratory for Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Jiangsu Province High-Tech Key Laboratory for Bio-Medical Research, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
² Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck, Nanjing Tongren Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
³ Co-innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong, China.
⁴ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
⁶ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
⁷ Institute for Stem Cell and Regeneration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Macrophages are the main intrinsic immune cells in the cochlea; they can be activated and play a complicated role after cochlear injury. Many studies have shown that the number of macrophages and their morphological characteristics within the major cochlear partitions undergo significant changes under various pathological conditions including acoustic trauma, ototoxic drug treatment, age-related cochlear degeneration, selective hair cell (HC) and spiral ganglion neuron (SGN) elimination, and surgery. However, the exact role of these macrophages after cochlear injury is still unclear. Regulating the migration and activity of macrophages may be a therapeutic approach to reduce the risk or magnitude of trauma-induced hearing loss, and this review highlights the role of macrophages on the peripheral auditory structures of the cochlea and elucidate the mechanisms of macrophage injury and the strategies to reduce the injury by regulating macrophage.

Keywords: auditory structure; cochlear injury; immune responses; macrophages; sterile inflammation.

Publication types

Review