UC Irvine

Hearing loss is a widespread and disabling condition with no current cure, underscoring the urgent need for new therapeutic approaches for treatment and prevention. A recent mitochondrial therapy approach by introducing exogenous mitochondria to the cells has shown promising results in mitigating mitochondria-related disorders. Despite the essential role of mitochondria in hearing, this novel strategy has not yet been tested for the treatment of hearing loss. More importantly, whether cochlear cells take up exogenous mitochondria and its consequence on cell bioenergetics has never been tested before. Here, we showed that exogenous mitochondria from HEI-OC1 auditory cells internalize into a new set of HEI-OC1 cells through co-incubation in a dose-dependent manner without inducing toxicity. We observed that auditory cells that received exogenous mitochondria exhibited increased bioenergetics compared to the controls that received none. Furthermore, we found that mitochondrial transplantation protects cells from oxidative stress and H2O2-induced apoptosis, while partially restoring bioenergetics diminished by H2O2 exposure. These findings support initial evidence for the feasibility and potential advantages of mitochondrial therapy in auditory cells. If successful in animal models and ultimately in humans, this novel therapy offers prominent potential for the treatment of sensorineural hearing loss.