Acoustic trauma causes cochlear pericyte-to-myofibroblast-like cell transformation and vascular degeneration, and transplantation of new pericytes prevents vascular atrophy

Acoustic trauma disrupts cochlear blood flow and damages sensory hair cells. Damage and regression of capillaries after acoustic trauma have long been observed, but the underlying mechanism of pathology has not been understood. We show here that loud sound causes change of phenotype from NG2+/ α-SMA- to NG2+/α-SMA+ in some pericytes (PCs) on strial capillaries that is strongly associated with up-regulation of TGF-β1. The acoustic trauma also causes a reduction of capillary density and increased deposition of matrix proteins, particularly in tne vicinity of transformed PCs.
Source: American Journal of Pathology - Category: Pathology Authors: Tags: Regular Article Source Type: research