Exploratory study on the consequences of culturing chick otic vesicles in 3D scaffolds using different hydrogels

Abstract

The development of the inner ear is an important event in the organogenesis of all vertebrates. Its functions include perception of sound and balance, and in adult organisms is arranged in a highly complex 3D structure. The inner ear of birds, on the contrary of humans and mammals shows regeneration capacity, whichhasveryinteresting implications, as it wouldhelp tobetter understand the limits and possibilities of applying new therapies to hearing impaired patients. In this sense, diverse/ngroups havecarried out studies on the regeneration ability ofbirds' ear. However current approachesare more interested indissecting only the auditory region of the inner ear, not the fullhearing organ. Therefore, the following study is thought as a first approach towards this direction, given the little literature on this topic and the growing magnitude the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering isexperiencing. In order to do soI dissected the otic vesicles of 60 hour-old chick embryos/nin orderto observe how they responded to being cultured in three-dimensionalculturesusing different hydrogels as three-dimensional culture scaffolds.