Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) affects the inner ear compartment and can be caused by different factors. Usually, the lack, death, or malfunction of sensory cells deputed to transduction of mechanic-into-electric signals leads to SNHL. To date, the therapeutic option for patients impaired by severe or profound SNHL is the cochlear implant (CI), a high-tech electronic device replacing the entire cochlear function. Piezoelectric materials have catalyzed attention to stimulate the auditory neurons by simply mimicking the function of the cochlear sensory epithelium. In this study, the authors investigated lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) as a potential candidate material for next generation CIs. LiNbO₃ nanoparticles resulted otocompatible with inner ear cells in vitro, had a pronounced immunomodulatory activity, enhanced human beta-defensin in epithelial cells, and showed direct antibacterial activity against P. aeruginosa. Moreover, LiNbO₃ nanoparticles were incorporated into poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoro ethylene) fibers via electrospinning, which enhanced the piezoelectric response. Finally, the resulting fibrous composite structures support human neural-like cell growth in vitro, thus showing promising features to be used in new inner ear devices.

中文翻译：

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铌酸锂纳米粒子作为内耳装置的生物功能界面材料。

感音神经性听力损失（SNHL）影响内耳腔，可能是由多种因素引起的。通常，感觉细胞的缺乏，死亡或功能失常被认为是机械信号转换为电信号所致。迄今为止，严重或严重SNHL受损的患者的治疗选择是耳蜗植入物（CI），这是一种高科技电子设备，可以代替整个耳蜗功能。压电材料通过简单地模仿耳蜗感觉上皮的功能来催化注意力，以刺激听觉神经元。在这项研究中，作者研究了铌酸锂（LiNbO ₃）作为下一代CI的潜在候选材料。LiNbO ₃纳米粒子在体外与内耳细胞相容具有明显的免疫调节活性，增强上皮细胞中的人β-防御素，并显示出对铜绿假单胞菌的直接抗菌活性。此外，LiNbO ₃纳米粒子通过电纺丝掺入聚偏二氟乙烯-三氟乙烯纤维中，增强了压电响应。最后，所得的纤维复合结构在体外支持人的神经样细胞生长，因此显示出可用于新的内耳装置的有前途的功能。