{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]],"date-time":"2026-02-19T06:14:47Z","timestamp":1771481687853,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]],"date-time":"2026-02-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771459200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Cell. Neurosci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Cochlear implants (CIs) restore hearing by directly stimulating spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs), yet auditory outcomes remain highly variable. Increasing evidence suggests that SGN survival alone incompletely predicts CI performance; instead, transcriptional programmes governing neuronal excitability\/synaptic transmission, structural plasticity, trophic\u2013metabolic support and injury\/inflammation may better reflect neural functional competence.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We re-analysed publicly available cochlear transcriptomic datasets spanning development, adulthood and injury\/degeneration. Primary resources included developmental FACS RNA-seq of hair cells and surrounding tissue, adult inner- and outer-hair-cell microarrays, and a noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) RNA-seq cohort following mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy. We additionally analysed independent injury\/degeneration datasets, including spatial transcriptomics of spiral ganglion regions after noise exposure and spiral ganglion RNA-seq after aminoglycoside-induced deafening. Guided by cochlear neuroscience literature and functional enrichment, we assembled gene modules for excitability, plasticity, trophic\/metabolic support and injury\/inflammation. Module activity was quantified using within-dataset standardized scores from normalized expression, avoiding cross-platform merging. We derived a Cochlear Neural Functional Competence (CNFC) score (Excitability + Trophic \u2212 Injury) and assessed robustness using a minimal 24-gene panel. External validation was performed in an independent purified SGN dataset, and CNFC was benchmarked against transcriptome-wide principal components.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Developmental maturation was characterized by increasing excitability-associated transcripts alongside down-regulation of actin\/cytoskeletal remodelling components. Adult hair cells displayed distinct trophic signatures. In the NIHL model, MSC therapy was associated with transcriptional suppression of excitatory receptor and channel genes, consistent with a shift in the injury\/inflammation\u2013excitability balance, although functional consequences remain to be established. Importantly, in independent injury\/degeneration datasets, CNFC decreased in spiral ganglion neuronal regions after noise exposure and in deafened spiral ganglion. Across datasets, CNFC captured coherent trends and remained highly correlated with full-module scoring when reduced to the 24-gene panel.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>CNFC is a transparent, hypothesis-generating framework for summarizing cochlear neuronal functional state from transcriptomic data, complementing traditional survival metrics. By prioritizing interpretable modules and standardized within-dataset scoring, CNFC supports cross-study integration and highlights candidate programmes for mechanistic testing.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fncel.2026.1776907","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]],"date-time":"2026-02-19T05:24:03Z","timestamp":1771478643000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Cochlear neural functional competence: an integrative transcriptomic module analysis of excitability, plasticity and microenvironmental support programs"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Li","family":"Guo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University","place":["Xi\u2019an, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Junli","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University","place":["Xi\u2019an, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ying","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University","place":["Xi\u2019an, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yuqi","family":"Feng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University","place":["Xi\u2019an, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Baojun","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University","place":["Xi\u2019an, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiaoyong","family":"Ren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University","place":["Xi\u2019an, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University","place":["Xi\u2019an, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"331","DOI":"10.1002\/cne.10244","article-title":"Firing features and potassium channel content of murine spiral ganglion neurons vary with cochlear location","volume":"447","author":"Adamson","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. 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