ArticleFrontiers in cellular neuroscience2026
Cochlear neural functional competence: an integrative transcriptomic module analysis of excitability, plasticity and microenvironmental support programs.
Article in Frontiers in cellular neuroscience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Cochlear implants (CIs) restore hearing by directly stimulating spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs), yet auditory outcomes remain highly variable. Increasing evidence suggests that SGN survival alone incompletely predicts CI performance; instead, transcriptional programmes governing neuronal excitability/synaptic transmission, structural plasticity, trophic-metabolic support and injury/inflammation may better reflect neural functional competence. Methods: We re-analysed publicly available cochlear transcriptomic datasets spanning development, adulthood and injury/degeneration. Primary resources included developmental FACS RNA-seq of hair cells and surrounding tissue, adult inner- and outer-hair-cell microarrays, and a noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) RNA-seq cohort following mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy. We additionally analysed independent injury/degeneration datasets, including spatial transcriptomics of spiral ganglion regions after noise exposure and spiral ganglion RNA-seq after aminoglycoside-induced deafening. Guided by cochlear neuroscience literature and functional enrichment, we assembled gene modules for excitability, plasticity, trophic/metabolic support and injury/inflammation. Module activity was quantified using within-dataset standardized scores from normalized expression, avoiding cross-platform merging. We derived a Cochlear Neural Functional Competence (CNFC) score (Excitability + Trophic - Injury) and assessed robustness using a minimal 24-gene panel. External validation was performed in an independent purified SGN dataset, and CNFC was benchmarked against transcriptome-wide principal components. Results: Developmental maturation was characterized by increasing excitability-associated transcripts alongside down-regulation of actin/cytoskeletal remodelling components. Adult hair cells displayed distinct trophic signatures. In the NIHL model, MSC therapy was associated with transcriptional suppression of excitatory receptor and channel genes, consistent with a shift in the injury/inflammation-excitability balance, although functional consequences remain to be established. Importantly, in independent injury/degeneration datasets, CNFC decreased in spiral ganglion neuronal regions after noise exposure and in deafened spiral ganglion. Across datasets, CNFC captured coherent trends and remained highly correlated with full-module scoring when reduced to the 24-gene panel. Conclusion: CNFC is a transparent, hypothesis-generating framework for summarizing cochlear neuronal functional state from transcriptomic data, complementing traditional survival metrics. By prioritizing interpretable modules and standardized within-dataset scoring, CNFC supports cross-study integration and highlights candidate programmes for mechanistic testing.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.