Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Sounds Fishy

Insight into hearing damage – learning from the regenerative powers of fish

19 November 2021

Sounds Fishy

Loud music, fireworks, even the lawnmower all make enough noise to permanently damage the delicate hair cells in your inner ear, which are essential for hearing. The mechanisms behind this aren’t fully understood. Researchers now use zebrafish embryos to model what happens during noise-induced hearing loss. Strong water waves were used to damage the zebrafish equivalent of inner ear hair cells – neuromasts. Fluorescence microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (pictured) revealed that compared with embryos not exposed to strong water waves (top), hair cells were deformed (bottom). Nerve cells also shrunk back and lost contacts with neuromasts, even in those that appeared intact. These changes are in line with what is known to occur in noise-exposed human inner ears. As zebrafish have great regenerative abilities, the neuromasts recovered within hours. This model, therefore, provides a way to investigate noise-induced hearing loss and whether the repair mechanisms could be translated to humans.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.