Public Library of Science, PLoS ONE, 1(6), p. e16547, 2011
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016547
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The endothelial-blood/tissue barrier is critical for maintaining tissue homeostasis. The ear harbors a unique endothelial-blood/tissue barrier which we term “blood-labyrinth-barrier”. This barrier is critical for maintaining inner ear homeostasis. Disruption of the blood-labyrinth-barrier is closely associated with a number of hearing disorders. Many proteins of the blood-brain-barrier and blood-retinal-barrier have been identified, leading to significant advances in understanding their tissue specific functions. In contrast, capillaries in the ear are small in volume and anatomically complex. This presents a challenge for protein analysis studies, which has resulted in limited knowledge of the molecular and functional components of the blood-labyrinth-barrier. In this study, we developed a novel method for isolation of the stria vascularis capillary from CBA/CaJ mouse cochlea and provided the first database of protein components in the blood-labyrinth barrier as well as evidence that the interaction of Na+/K+-ATPase α1 (ATP1A1) with protein kinase C eta (PKCη) and occludin is one of the mechanisms of loud sound-induced vascular permeability increase.