In vivo regeneration of vestibular hair cells of guinea pig.

Recent studies have shown that inner ear sensory cells may regenerate in mammals as well as in birds. In this in vivo study we investigated the regeneration of vestibular hair cells in guinea pigs after gentamycin intoxication, and found that the vestibular sensory epithelia reproduced new hair cells 30 days after degeneration, due to 30 consecutive days of gentamycin treatment. From the regeneration pattern of sensory epithelia, the supporting cells were identified as the progenitors of hair cells.