Regenerative treatment of middle ear mucosa with topical retinoid administration

Middle ear dysfunction can lead to hearing loss and diseases, most commonly cholesteatoma. Although radical treatment of cholesteatoma involves complete removal of the lesion, incomplete regeneration of the middle ear mucosa can lead to hearing loss and recurrence of cholesteatoma. Recently, several middle ear mucosal regeneration therapies have been reported; however, none have been widely used clinically. Therefore, we focused on retinoids that have been reported to have regenerative effects on the nasal mucosal epithelium. We investigated the efficacy of retinoids in an animal model of middle ear mucosal damage using guinea pigs. Our results suggest that the regenerated ciliated epithelium has histological and functional characteristics similar to those of the normal epithelium. We additionally investigated the ototoxicity of retinoids and found no evidence of such. Retinoids may be useful as a novel therapy for middle ear mucosal regeneration.