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Changing a Single Gene Gave Mice Supercharged Hearing


In an effort to better understand hearing loss, scientists have created mice with supercharged listening abilities.

University of Michigan neurobiologist Lingchao Ji and colleagues achieved this by dialing up the test animals' expression of a nerve growth gene called neurotrophin-3(Ntf3). The gap detection threshold is longer when there are fewer synapses in an area, as Ji and team demonstrated in their experiment with mice that had reduced Ntf3 expression. (Nemes Laszlo/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)Boosting Ntf3 expression in the mice caused an increase in the density of their synapses, in turn improving their ability to process and therefore distinguish between sounds of different qualities.

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