OSCR

Molecular and Cellular Hallmarks of Age-Related Vestibular Hair Cell Degeneration.

Overview

Authors: Samadhi Kulasooriya1, Huizhan Liu1, Sarath Vijayakumar1, Celia Bloom1, Zhenhang Xu1, Shu Tu1, Benjamin J Borgmeier1, Mi Zhou1, Litao Tao1, Bechara Kachar2, David Z He1
ORCID iDs: Zhenhang Xu, Shu Tu
  1. Department of Biomedical Science, School of Medicine, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
  2. Laboratory of Cell Structure and Dynamics, National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Institutions: Creighton University (United States); National Institutes of Health (United States); National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (United States)
Journal: Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany), volume 13, issue 53, article e76340
Dates: received 18 January 2026; accepted 16 June 2026; published online 26 June 2026; in print September 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1002/advs.76340 · PMID 42360208 · PMCID PMC13337082 · OpenAlex W7166107954
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: data only
Categories: genetics / omics (modality), mouse (organism), other condition (population), cellular / molecular (subfield)
Methods: Statistics, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions, Machine learning, Preprocessing, Spectral & time-frequency, Connectivity, fMRI & imaging
Keywords: age‐related hearing loss, aging‐associated diseases, cochlea, hair cell, mechanotransduction, neuroscience, proteostasis, senescence, transcriptome, vestibular system
MeSH: Aging*, Hair Cells, Vestibular*, Vestibular Diseases*, Animals, Cellular Senescence, Mechanotransduction, Cellular, Mice, Transcriptome (* major topic)
Topic: Hearing, Cochlea, Tinnitus, Genetics (Sensory Systems, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: NIDCD NIH HHS (R01 DC016807); NIH HHS (R01 DC016807, Z01-DC000002); NIGMS NIH HHS (P20 GM139762); Bellucci De Paoli Family Foundation
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 113 references in the paper
Research resources: built‐in tools RRID:SCR_016341, including Cell Ranger RRID:SCR_017344, Histology and Molecular core facility RRID:SCR_025163

Abstract

Age‐related vestibular dysfunction (ARVD) is a prevalent and debilitating condition among the elderly, yet its etiology and underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. We focused on mechanosensitive hair cells (HCs), which are widely recognized as susceptible to aging. Using single‐cell RNA‐seq transcriptomic analysis of young and old mice, we show that old vestibular HCs exhibit conserved transcriptomic hallmarks of cellular aging, including cellular senescence, mitochondrial dysfunction, and impaired proteostasis, along with prominent cell type‐specific changes linked to hair bundle architecture and the mechanotransduction machinery. Consistent with these transcriptomic findings, imaging and electrophysiological recordings from old vestibular sensory epithelia reveal hair bundle degeneration and reduced mechanotransduction activity. Importantly, this structural and functional deterioration precedes HC loss, underscoring impaired hair bundle function as a key driver of ARVD. Furthermore, our comparative analysis identifies both shared and distinct aging signatures in vestibular and cochlear HCs, providing broader insight into the mechanisms that may underlie their different rates of age‐related degeneration.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

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Data

Datasets cited

Data Availability Statement

All relevant data are included in this paper and the supporting materials. The single‐cell RNA sequencing data generated in this study have been deposited in the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) under the accession numbers GSE283534 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE283534) (young CBA/J) and GSE283708 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE283708) (old CBA/J). Publicly available software, standard packages, and algorithms were used for the transcriptomic analysis, including Cell Ranger (RRID: SCR_017344), Seurat, and built‐in tools (RRID: SCR_016341). No custom code or algorithms were generated.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 11 authors, 10 keywords, 8 MeSH terms, 4 funders, 113 references, 3 RRIDs.

Cite

This paper

Kulasooriya, S., Liu, H., Vijayakumar, S., Bloom, C., Xu, Z., Tu, S., Borgmeier, B. J., Zhou, M., Tao, L., Kachar, B., & He, D. Z. (2026). Molecular and Cellular Hallmarks of Age-Related Vestibular Hair Cell Degeneration. Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany), 13(53), e76340. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.76340

BibTeX

@article{kulasooriya2026molecular,
author = {Kulasooriya, Samadhi and Liu, Huizhan and Vijayakumar, Sarath and Bloom, Celia and Xu, Zhenhang and Tu, Shu and Borgmeier, Benjamin J and Zhou, Mi and Tao, Litao and Kachar, Bechara and He, David Z},
title = {{Molecular and Cellular Hallmarks of Age-Related Vestibular Hair Cell Degeneration}},
journal = {Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
volume = {13},
number = {53},
pages = {e76340},
publisher = {Wiley},
issn = {2198-3844},
doi = {10.1002/advs.76340},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.76340},
pmid = {42360208},
pmcid = {PMC13337082}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Kulasooriya, Samadhi
AU - Liu, Huizhan
AU - Vijayakumar, Sarath
AU - Bloom, Celia
AU - Xu, Zhenhang
AU - Tu, Shu
AU - Borgmeier, Benjamin J
AU - Zhou, Mi
AU - Tao, Litao
AU - Kachar, Bechara
AU - He, David Z
TI - Molecular and Cellular Hallmarks of Age-Related Vestibular Hair Cell Degeneration
T2 - Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)
J2 - Adv Sci (Weinh)
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/26
VL - 13
IS - 53
SP - e76340
SN - 2198-3844
PB - Wiley
DO - 10.1002/advs.76340
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.76340
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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