Brand Y Radojevic V Sung M Wei E Setz C Glutz A Leitmeyer K Bodmer D 2014 Hair cells and spiral ganglion neurons of the mammalian auditory system do not regenerate, and their loss leads to irreversible hearing loss. Aminoglycosides induce auditory hair cell death in vitro, and evidence suggests that phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/Akt signaling opposes gentamicin toxicity via its downstream target, the protein kinase Akt. We previously demonstrated that somatostatin-a peptide with hormone/neurotransmitter properties-can protect hair cells from gentamicin-induced hair cell death in vitro, and that somatostatin receptors are expressed in the mammalian inner ear. However, it remains unknown how this protective effect is mediated. In the present study, we show a highly significant protective effect of octreotide (a drug that mimics and is more potent than somatostatin) on gentamicin-induced hair cell death, and increased Akt phosphorylation in octreotide-treated organ of Corti explants in vitro. Moreover, we demonstrate that somatostatin receptor-1 knockout mice overexpress somatostatin receptor-2 in the organ of Corti, and are less susceptible to gentamicin-induced hair cell loss than wild-type or somatostatin-1/somatostatin-2 double-knockout mice. Finally, we show that octreotide affects auditory hair cells, enhances spiral ganglion neurite number, and decreases spiral ganglion neurite length. application/pdf https://sonar.ch/global/documents/124307 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0108146 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pmid/25268135 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess PloS one. - 2014 Animals Cell Death Gene Expression Regulation Gentamicins Hair Cells, Auditory Hearing Loss Mice Mice, Knockout Neurites Octreotide Organ Culture Techniques Phosphorylation Protective Agents Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt Receptors, Somatostatin Signal Transduction Spiral Ganglion Role of somatostatin receptor-2 in gentamicin-induced auditory hair cell loss in the Mammalian inner ear. http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501