Journal of Tissue Engineering (Oct 2018)

Auditory disorders and future therapies with delivery systems

  • Jung-Hwan Lee,
  • Min Young Lee,
  • Yohan Lim,
  • Jonathan Knowles,
  • Hae-Won Kim

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/2041731418808455
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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Auditory function takes a major part in human life. While sensorineural hearing loss is related with many factors including genetic disorders, age and noise, the clear causes are not well understood. Even more, the currently available treatments with drugs cause side effects, which thus are considered suboptimal. Here, we communicate the delivery systems with biomaterials that can be possible therapeutic options to restore hearing and vestibular functions. We introduce briefly the various pathological factors related with hearing loss and the limitation of current therapies, detail the recent studies on delivery systems including nanoparticles and hydrogels and discuss future clinical availability.