Alizée Journal Club in Purinergic Signalling "P2X4 receptors as the dynamic regulators of auditory sensory cell activity: a potential new mechanism for protecting hearing?"
Alizée Journal Club in Purinergic Signalling "P2X4 receptors as the dynamic regulators of auditory sensory cell activity: a potential new mechanism for protecting hearing?" is available now online!
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11302-026-10130-0
Alongside her hands-on lab work over the summer, Ali also took on a substantial reading-and-writing challenge: she produced a publishable Journal Club article (a short, research-aware commentary that reviews an influential paper and explains why it matters).
Well done, Alizée Fisher-Ridoux — this is a fantastic outcome from the Summer Studentship.
What Ali’s Journal Club highlights
Ali’s piece focuses on a Journal of Neuroscience study by Riffault et al. (2025) that investigated how the P2X4 receptor (an ATP-gated ion channel) contributes to the function of outer hair cells (OHCs)—the sensory cells that provide the cochlea’s mechanical “amplification.”Key points from the featured study that Ali draws attention to include:
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Clear P2X4 expression in living OHCs across development into adulthood, shown using knock-in reporter models and confirmed by imaging.
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Notable subcellular localisation: signal concentrated in the intracellular apical region around Hensen’s body (a lysosome-rich region) and also present at the basal cholinergic efferent synaptic region at the cell membrane.
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Functional consequences in knockout models: improved ABR metrics (lower thresholds and smaller latencies) and enhanced DPOAEs, consistent with altered OHC “amplification.”
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Evidence pointing to a change in medial olivocochlear (MOC) efferent inhibition (the brain-to-cochlea feedback pathway): knockout animals showed reduced inhibition of DPOAEs during contralateral noise.
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Following noise exposure (95 dB SPL white noise, 12 h), ABRs declined and partially recovered similarly to controls, while DPOAEs recovered faster in P2X4 knockout mice.
Ali’s Journal Club is now published in Purinergic Signalling (2026) and is openly available (DOI: 10.1007/s11302-026-10130-0).
Well done again, Ali! Producing a peer-reviewed Journal Club publication on top of a full summer project is a genuine achievement, and we are delighted to be able to share it with the wider community.
