The Anatomical Record | 2019
Getting to the Root of It All: The Anatomical Record Explores Advances in Gene and Stem Cell Therapy in the Treatment of Hearing, Balance and Other Head and Neck Disorders
Abstract
Of our six senses—that is right we have six; they lied to us in grammar school!—those of hearing and of balance (the latter’s the one Mrs. Smith forgot to tell us about in sixth grade) have become particularly important for the writers of this editorial. They are key for K.A. as he scales Utah’s snowy peaks (needs balance!) and must have his ears sharp to capture calls of “Moose! Moose!” lest he miss one coming up from behind and thus become the focus of a special issue of our journal sooner than he would like. Similarly, his comrade-inpen, J.L., must have his hearing mechanism just as finely tuned as he could miss calls of “Mouse! Mouse!” when trying a new, eclectic New York City restaurant, and similarly needs precise balance to quickly get up and out of said vermin nest and pirouette to signal an escape taxi (life in the Big Apple can be hard!). Unfortunately, the acuity and functionality of these two primal senses, as well as others such as smell, are not always optimal. Our abilities are frequently compromised due to a host of developmental, disease-oriented, traumatic, and natural aging, insults. Indeed, the degeneration within the path of normal aging (an area that we have become more and more interested in for some reason) has itself come under intense focus and study as our population ages. Humans are just not “designed” to last forever (as actuaries wellknow; K.A. was recently congratulated by an actuary for becoming actuarially relevant), and the gradual diminution of these senses can literally shake our world. This current very special, Special Issue, entitled, “Novel Stem Cell and Gene Therapies for Hearing, Balance, and Olfaction” focuses on advancing the latest research in these areas. The Special Issue is Guest Edited by our favorite hearing anatomist (and one that can still hear!), Thomas R. Van De Water (Van De Water, 2020a, 2020b, this issue), Emeritus Professor of Otolaryngology, and Emeritus Director of the Cochlear Implant Research Program of the University of Miami Ear Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. It is, in essence, a “Part 2” to Van De Water’s now classic 2012 Special Issue in The Anatomical Record, “The Anatomy and Biology of Hearing and Balance: Cochlear and Vestibular Implants” (Laitman and Albertine, 2012; Laitman, 2012; Van De Water, 2012). The 2012 Special Issue was our first ever to focus on “implant” biology and included seminal research in the area. This Special Issue is our first to focus upon the anatomy underlying the dynamic fields of stem cell biology and gene therapies, and continues the extraordinary story of the progress in understanding our special senses, particularly, of hearing and balance. While Van De Water has brought to our journal the cutting edge blending of anatomical knowledge and treatment of hearing and balance (and even some olfaction) issues, The Anatomical Record has a long and proud history of publishing studies in these areas. Indeed, going back to our journal’s birth year in 1909, and just 3rd Volume, George Streeter, the noted embryologist/anatomist and future President of the American Association of Anatomists, published his innovative experiments on transplanting the ear vesicles of tadpoles (see Streeter, 1909; also Streeter, 1921). Throughout the early to mid-20th century our fellow anatomists—including some of the greats of these eras such as T. H. Bast, B. J. Anson, J. C. Sandison, and E. R. Clark—called upon The Anatomical Record to advance their science (see review in Laitman, 2006a). Some of our Special Issues have also been home to assessment of the anatomy and biology of the senses, notably: the Special Issue on “The Special Senses of Primates,” guest-edited by Nathaniel J. Dominy Callum Ross, and Timothy Smith (Dominy et al., 2004; Laitman, 2004); and the Special Issue guest-edited by renowned otolaryngologist/neurobiologist (and former J.L. MD/PhD student who almost never listened to his poor Advisor!), David R. Friedland, entitled “Structure and Function in the Auditory System: From Cochlea to Cortex” (Friedland, 2006; Laitman, 2006a, 2006b). We need to also say a few words about this current issue’s Guest Editor, Thomas Van De Water. Tom—we know him too well to continue with scholarly formality—is a remarkable fellow. He is a true native New Yorker, living his entire life within the six boroughs of New York City. (Yes, like the senses, there are six, not five: Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, and Miami; as New Yorkers age they all migrate to Miami or one of its ‘burbs. J.L.’s eldest sister is there with her picture of “Baruch”—he visited her Temple and wore a yarmulke so she is convinced THE ANATOMICAL RECORD (2019)