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Douglas Cotanche, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Otology and Laryngology

Children's Hospital
Otolaryngology, Enders 4
300 Longwood Ave
Boston, MA 02115
Telephone: 617-919-2972
Fax: 617- 730-0205
E-mail: douglas.cotanche@childrens.harvard.edu
Predocs: 1 Postdocs: 3 Completed PhD's: 3

 Douglas Cotanche

The major focus of our research has been hair cell regeneration in the avian and mammalian cochlea. I discovered in 1986 that the chicken cochlea is capable of regenerating new hair cells to replace those that were lost from noise exposure. This was quite a surprising finding because research at the time indicated that lost hair cells were irreplaceable and led to permanent hearing deficits. Since my initial findings, hair cell regeneration has become the focus of a number of major laboratories. Hair cell regeneration has not been seen to occur in the mammalian cochlea, so we have been exploring the use of stem cells for repair of the damaged cochlea. We hope that an understanding of hair cell regeneration and stem cell transplantation will lead directly to clinical applications that can treat genetic, trauma-induced, or age-related hearing loss in humans.

The current research projects in my laboratory are:

  • To address the mechanisms that regulate hair cell regeneration, i.e., hair cell death, the proliferation of supporting cells and the differentiation of new hair cells. Our goal is to identify the genes and proteins that regulate supporting cell proliferation and lead to the production of new hair cells.
  • To transplant neural stem cells into the cochleae of sound damaged mice and guinea pigs. We have shown that the stem cells integrate into the cochlea and cochlear nerve and differentiate into new hair cells, neurons, supporting cells and glia that repair the damaged sensory epithelium.

 

References:

  • Matsui, JI, A Haque, D Huss, EP Messana, JA Alosi, DW Roberson, DA Cotanche, JD Dickman & ME Warchol. 2003. Hair cell function and survival following aminoglycoside treatment with caspase inhibitors in vivo. J. Neurosci., 23:6111-6122.
  • Parker, M.A and D.A. Cotanche. The potential use of stem cells for cochlear repair. Audiology & Neuro-Otolology 2004;9:72-80.
  • Mangiardi, D.A., K.M. Williamson, K.E. May, E.P. Messana, D.C. Mountain. and D.A. Cotanche. Progression of Hair Cell Ejection and Molecular Markers of Apoptosis in the Avian Cochlea following Gentamicin Treatment. J. Comp. Neurol. 2004; 475:1-18
  • Roberson, D.W., J.A. Alosi and D.A. Cotanche. Direct transdifferentiation gives rise to the earliest new hair cells in regenerating avian auditory epithelium. J. Neurosci. Res. 2004; in press.
  • Wang, H., J. Li, P.L. Follett, D.A. Cotanche, J.J. Volpe and P.A. Rosenberg. 12-Lipoxygenase plays a causal role in cell death caused by glutathione depletion and arachadonic acid in cultured rat oligodendrocytes. Eur. J. Neurosci. 2004, in press