Hair cells

Objective: The main objective of present study is to treat Alopecia. Alopecia areata is an unpredictable hair-loss condition. Alopecia is a dermatological disorder with psychosocial implications on patients with hair loss. Herbal systems of medicine have become increasingly popular in recent years. Medicinal plants have been used for the treatment of hair diseases since antiquity. Herbs such as turmeric, fenugreek, ginger, Cyperus (Nagarmotha), and holy basil are integral parts of ayurvedic formulations. Cyperus rotundus is a well-known ayurvedic herb with purported claims of hair growth promotion. Methods: Extracts are prepared by separating the soluble matter from vegetable tissues by the application of a suitable solvent such as alcohol, water, or ether. The resultant liquid is concentrated by evaporation to obtain a liquid extract or concentrated almost to dryness to obtain the solid extract and its volatile oil. Hair formulation of C. rotundus belonging to family Cyperaceae in the form of herbal formulation (5% herbal cream and oil) was studied and it showed excellent hair growth activity with standard (2% minoxidil ethanolic solution) in Wister albino rats. Results: Hair growth initiation time was significantly reduced to half on treatment with the oil, as compared to control animals. The hair growth-promoting effect was evaluated against the control, standard, and test animals at 0, 10, 15, and 20 days with the formulated hair oil and hair cream prepared from the volatile oil extracted from the C. rotundus and the significant hair growth was observed, and the growth was compared with the standard drug used 2% solution of minoxidil. Conclusion: The results of treatment with oil were better than the positive control minoxidil 2% treatment. It holds the promise of potent herbal alternative for minoxidil.

Herbal medicine is still the mainstay of about 70-80% of the world population mainly in the developing countries for Primary Health Care because of better cultural acceptability better, compatibility with the human body and lesser medicine or only palliative therapy is available. Even in this era of antibiotics, radiotherapy and strict drug laws, a very large number of herbal products are consumed and marketed throughout the world as health nutrients, food supplements, and curing agents for disease control. It has been observed that a number of herbs and their extract are used for hair growth activities some are described as follow: Petroleum ether extract of aerial parts of Tridax procumbens showed luxurious growth of hair in albino rats. Nearly 70% ethanolic extract of leaves of Ginko biloba was shown to be effective for hair growth activity. Methanolic extract of Potyporus umbellatus has shown excellent hair growth activity in rats. Combined extract Emblica officinalis, Lawsonia inermis, Nardostachys jatamansi, Cyperus rotundus and Corchorus prevent the falling of hairs and enhancement of hair growth activity. Proanthocyanidins from grape seeds promote the proliferation of mouse hair follicle cell in vitro and convert hair cycle in vivo similar to Minoxidil 2% solution which is synthetic and has numbers of side effect. Herbal cosmetics are in vogue these days. Nowadays, people have become aware of using herbal cosmetics. Now a day's cosmetology is a well-defined science based on experiences gathered over centuries. The safety and efficacy of natural herbs could not find any suitable match i.e., cannot be replaced by synthetics. There is once again revival of preference for natural products.

Emblica officinalis (Amla, EO, and E. officinalis) is one of the most important herbs in the Indian traditional medicine system, especially Ayurveda and also known as the king of all medicinal plants. EO is famous ayurvedic herb (the name means sour in Sanskrit) is likely one of the most useful drug treatments within the Indian pharmacopoeia, and is considered to be one of the most strongest uvenatives (Rasayana), particularly for the blood, bones, liver, and heart. It is an exceptionally rich source of vitamin C containing 30 times the amount found in oranges. It is one of the oldest oriental medicines mentioned in Ayurveda as potential remedy for various ailments. EO (Amla) is widely used in the ayurvedic medicines and believed to increase defense or immune power against diseases. Several parts of the plant are used to treat a variety of diseases, but the most important is the " fruit. " The fruit is rich in quercetin, phyllemblic compounds, gallic acid, tannins, flavonoids, pectin, and vitamin C and also contains various polyphenolic compounds. A wide range of phytochemical components including terpenoids, alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, and tannins have been shown to possess useful biological activities. Many pharmacological studies have demonstrated the ability of EO as antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antitumor, antigenotoxic, anti-inflammatory activities, anticancer, anti HIV-reverse transcriptase, antidiabetic, inhibitory effects, antidepressant, antiulcerogenic, hair growth tonic, wound healing activities, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and many other traditional uses of the plant. The present study also includes macroscopy, microscopy, preliminary phytoconstituent, and physico-chemical evaluation.

Hair is a major esthetic display feature of the human body, especially in social and sexual interactions. Diagnosis of hair diseases occurred as early as ancient Egyptian times and is one of the oldest medical disciplines. Today, hair loss or thinning, and hypertrichosis or hirsutism are common complaints in clinical dermatology, but patients seeking advice for their hair problem are not necessarily completely bald or overall haired. The difficult task in diagnosing hair and hair disorders is to distinguish between a true disorder and a subjective complaint and to analyze the underlying pathogenesis. Patients consult for focal or diffuse effluvium, non-scarring or scarring alopecia, changes in hair structure or color and hair graying. Establishing the correct diagnosis is the key feature of successfully managing a hair patient.

Age-related hearing loss is the most common type of hearing impairment, and is typically characterized by the loss of spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). The two Liver X receptors (LXRs) are oxysterol-activated nuclear receptors which in adults, regulate genes involved in cholesterol homeostasis and modulation of macrophage activity. LXR β plays a key role in maintenance of health of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, large motor neurons in the spinal cord, and retinal ganglion cells in adult mice. We now report that LXR β is expressed in the SGNs of the cochlea and that loss of LXR β leads to age-related cochlea degeneration. We found that in the cochlea of LXR β-/- mice, there is loss of SGNs, activation of macrophages, demyelination in the spiral ganglion, decrease in glutamine synthetase (GS) expression and increase in glutamate accumulation in the cochlea. Part of the cause of damage to the SGNs might be glutamate toxicity which is known to be very toxic to these cells. Our study provides a so far unreported role of LXR β in maintenance of SGNs whose loss is a very common cause of hearing impairment.

Aim and Objectives : To evaluate functional integrity of Outer Hair Cells and Medial Olivocochlear system in the subjects having normal
hearing with tinnitus and compare it with normal population and also to study the importance of Otoacoustic Emissions testing as an important
objective tool in tinnitus evaluation.
Methods and Materials: A total of 20 subjects in the age range of 18 years to 57 years were considered for the study. They were categorised
into two groups such as experimental group and control group. Experimental group consisted of 14 subjects with normal hearing having
unilateral or bilateral tinnitus. The control group consisted of 6 age matched subjects having normal hearing without any tinnitus. All the
subjects of both the groups underwent Pure Tone Audiometry testing and tinnitus evaluation. TEOAE testing and Contralateral Suppression of
TEOAE were carried out.

Mechanoelectrical transduction in the inner ear is a biophysical process underlying the senses of hearing and balance. The key players involved in this process are mechanosensitive ion channels. They are located in the stereocilia of hair cells and opened by the tension in specialized molecular springs, the tip links, connecting adjacent stereocilia. When channels open, the tip links relax, reducing the hair-bundle stiffness. This gating compliance makes hair cells especially sensitive to small stimuli. The classical explanation for the gating compliance is that the conformational rearrangement of a single channel directly shortens the tip link. However, to reconcile theoretical models based on this mechanism with experimental data, an unrealistically large structural change of the channel is required. Experimental evidence indicates that each tip link is a dimeric molecule, associated on average with two channels at its lower end. It also indicates that the lipid bilayer modulates ...

Mechanoelectrical transduction in the inner ear is a biophysical process underlying the senses of hearing and balance. The key players involved in this process are mechanosensitive ion channels. They are located in the stereocilia of hair cells and opened by the tension in specialized molecular springs, the tip links, connecting adjacent stereocilia. When channels open, the tip links relax, reducing the hair-bundle stiffness. This gating compliance makes hair cells especially sensitive to small stimuli. The classical explanation for the gating compliance is that the conformational rearrangement of a single channel directly shortens the tip link. However, to reconcile theoretical models based on this mechanism with experimental data, an unrealistically large structural change of the channel is required. Experimental evidence indicates that each tip link is a dimeric molecule, associated on average with two channels at its lower end. It also indicates that the lipid bilayer modulates channel gating, although it is not clear how. Here, we design and analyze a model of mechan-otransduction where each tip link attaches to two channels, mobile within the membrane. Their states and positions are coupled by membrane-mediated elastic forces arising from the interaction between the channels' hydrophobic cores and that of the lipid bilayer. This coupling induces cooperative opening and closing of the channels. The model reproduces the main properties of hair-cell mechan-otransduction using only realistic parameters constrained by experimental evidence. This work provides an insight into the fundamental role that membrane-mediated ion-channel cooperativity can play in sensory physiology. auditory system | cooperativity | hair cell | lipid bilayer | mechanotrans-duction channels