Exhaustive screening of outer hair cell-specific genes

Mechanosensory outer hair cells (OHC) play an essential role in the amplification of sound-induced vibrations in the cochlea because of their ability to contract or elongate following changes in the intracellular potential. To study the critical roles of OHC, we generated a novel mouse model, OHC-TRECK, for hearing impairment by introducing the human diphtheria toxin (DT) receptor gene under the control of the OHC-specific promoter of the mouse prestin gene. DT administration to OHC-TRECK mice resulted in severe hearing impairment with a decrease in the amplitude of distortion product otoacoustic emissions and elevated auditory brainstem responses. We performed a differential expression analysis between DT-administered OHC-TRECK and wild-type mice using high-throughput microarray analysis to screen for novel, specifically expressed and functional genes involved in the development and maintenance of OHC. Gene expression in the cochlea (n = 8; 4 females and 4 males) from DT- and DT+ wild-type and OHC-TRECK mice was measured.