17.04.2020
First GRK paper published!
Congratulations to Philine Marchetta on her work on cGMP and hearing loss
We are happy to announce the publication of the first GRK paper just 9 months after the start of our doctoral training program in July 2019! The study on the role of cGMP signaling in hearing dysfunction was led by the Department of Molecular Physiology of Hearing at the University of Tübingen. It involved collaborations between GRK projects and other Tübingen-based researchers as well as with scientists from the universities of Saarland and Würzburg. Philine Marchetta (GRK 2381, project 9) and Dorit Möhrle of the Knipper/Rüttiger Lab shared first authorship.
Hearing loss is one of the most common diseases of older people. As we age, hearing sensitivity declines progressively. This hearing loss can be preceded by loss of auditory fibers (hidden hearing loss), which might increase the risk for dementia. Therefore, there is urgent need for new pharmacologic treatments of hearing deficits to maintain cochlear hair cells and auditory fibers during aging and daily noise burden. In her GRK doctoral project, Philine Marchetta investigates in mouse models whether cGMP signaling cascades are perturbed in auditory dysfunction and to what extent cGMP-modulating drugs may correct these disabilities.
“Recent evidence suggests that cGMP plays a fundamental role in normal hearing and cochlear pathophysiology, but the identity of the respective cGMP-forming guanylyl cyclases in the cochlea has not been resolved,“ says Philine Marchetta. “In our study, we show that cGMP generated by the membrane-bound guanylyl cyclase A exhibits otoprotective functions and specifically protects from hidden hearing loss, acoustic trauma and age-dependent hearing loss.” These findings may stimulate future preclinical tests using augmentation of guanylyl cyclase A signaling as an intervention strategy to counteract age- and noise-induced hearing loss. The results of the study are published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. Congratulations to Philine, Dorit and all other authors!
Publication:
Marchetta P, Möhrle D, Eckert P, Reimann K, Wolter S, Tolone A, Lang I, Wolters M, Feil R, Engel J, Paquet-Durand F, Kuhn M, Knipper M and Rüttiger L (2020) Guanylyl Cyclase A/cGMP Signaling Slows Hidden, Age- and Acoustic Trauma-Induced Hearing Loss. Front. Aging Neurosci. 12:83. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2020.00083
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2020.00083/full
Contact:
Philine Marchetta (philine.marchetta@uni-tuebingen.de)
Prof. Dr. Marlies Knipper (marlies.knipper@uni-tuebingen.de)
Prof. Dr. Lukas Rüttiger (lukas.ruettiger@uni-tuebingen.de)
University of Tübingen
Molecular Physiology of Hearing, Tübingen Hearing Research Centre, Department of Otolaryngology