Topic: calyceal junction

In response to chronic stress, mammalian vestibular hair cells (HC) may undergo extrusion from the sensory epithelium. Before HC loss begins, the early damage is characterized by synaptic uncoupling and dismantlement of the calyceal junction, the cell adhesion complex formed between type I HCs and calyx afferents. This early pathology associates with the early loss of vestibular function, and both the initial epithelial and functional alterations are reversible. This study was aimed at identifying key gene expression responses associated with these phenomena. We used three animal models of chr