Methods: Leaving the temporal bone largely intact, a window is opened in the bony vestibule overlying the mouse utricle. The entire temporal bone is then placed into culture media. Utricles were cultured in situ for several days with minimal damage to the epithelium. The utricles are then fixed in situ, removed from the temporal bone, and processed. A standardized aminoglycoside-induced hair cell damage protocol was developed.

Results: Mature mouse utricles maintained hair cell numbers for 3 days in culture. Exposure to neomycin resulted in significant dose-dependent

hair cell toxicity (p < 0.0001, 1-way analysis of variance). Exposure to the protective drug tacrine resulted in significant protection against neomycin (p <

0.05, 3-way analysis of variance).

Conclusion: The “”in-bone” technique is a reliable Nepicastat order and atraumatic method for culturing PU-H71 mature mouse utricles and studying hair cell death and protection. It is easily mastered and can make in vitro study of hair cells accessible to more research groups.”
“Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States and it has the highest mortality rate of all gynecologic cancers. Internationally, there is a five-fold variation in incidence and mortality of ovarian cancer, which suggests a role for environmental factors, including diet. Nitrate and nitrite are found in various food items and they are precursors of N-nitroso compounds, which are known carcinogens in animal models. We evaluated dietary nitrate and nitrite intake and epithelial ovarian cancer in the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-AARP Diet and Health Study, including 151 316 women aged 50-71 years at the time of the baseline questionnaire in 1995-1996. The nitrate and nitrite intake was assessed Compound C nmr using a 124-item validated food frequency questionnaire.

Through 31 December 2006, 709 incident epithelial ovarian cancer cases with complete dietary information were identified. Using Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), women in the highest intake quintile of dietary nitrate had a 31% increased risk (95% CI: 1.01-1.68) of epithelial ovarian cancer, compared with those in the lowest intake quintile. Although there was no association for total dietary nitrite, those in the highest intake category of animal sources of nitrite had a 34% increased risk (95% CI: 1.05-1.69) of ovarian cancer. There were no clear differences in risk by histologic subtype of ovarian cancer. Our findings suggest that a role of dietary nitrate and nitrite in ovarian cancer risk should be followed in other large cohort studies. European Journal of Cancer Prevention 21:65-72 (C) 2011 Wolters Kluwer Health vertical bar Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.