Areas of Interest
The Altschuler Laboratory studies the molecular and cellular elements that make uThe Altschuler Laboratory studies the molecular and cellular elements that underlie mature auditory and vestibular function, identifies changes associated with disorders, and develops mechanism-based interventions for protection, treatment, and repair.
Tinnitus and Auditory Processing Disorders
Studies focus on activity-dependent plasticity and how changes contribute to tinnitus and auditory processing disorders. We find that deafness or noise induces modifications of neurotransmitters, receptors, and ion channels. The second area of focus examines central (efferent) modulation of the auditory nerve and how the loss of specific neurotransmitter systems changes processing.
Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering the Auditory Nerve
These studies use stem cells to replace the auditory nerve that is lost following deafness, as well as develop methods to enhance the survival of the remaining auditory nerve and induce regrowth.
Protection from Deafness and Age-related Hearing Loss
These studies identify natural cellular protective mechanisms, determine if the loss in their efficacy contributes to age-related hearing loss and develop interventions for their enhancement to increase protection from deafness.
Histology/Pathology Core
The Altschuler Lab also contains the Histology/Pathology Core, which provides services to multiple investigators at the Kresge Hearing Research Institute and the University of Michigan, as well as Michigan State University, Wayne State University, and the University of Toledo.
Published Articles or Reviews
- Altschuler RA, Dolan DF, Halsey K, Kanicki A, Deng N, Martin C, Eberle J, Kohrman D, Miller, RA, Schacht J (2015) Age-related Changes in Auditory Nerve – Inner Hair Cell Connections, Hair Cell Numbers, Auditory Brain Stem Response and Gap Detection in UM-HET4 Mice, Neuroscience 292:22-33
- Altschuler RA, Wys N, Prieskorn D, Martin C, DeRemer S, Bledsoe S, Miller JM, (2016) Treatment with Piribedil and Memantine Reduces Noise-Induced Loss of Inner Hair Cell Synaptic Ribbons, Sci. Rep. 6,
- Ross AM, Rahmani R, Prieskorn DM, Dischman AF, Wys N, Martin CA, Miller JM, Lahann L, Altschuler RA, (2016) Persistence, Distribution, and Impact of Distinctly Segmented Microparticles on Cochlear Health following In Vivo Infusion Journal of Biomedical Research Materials, 104(6):1510-22, 2016 PMID:26841263
- Stewart CS, Kanicki A, Altschuler RA, King WM, (2018) Vestibular short-latency evoked potential (VsEP) is abolished by low-frequency noise exposure in rats. J. Neurophys. 119(2):662-667