How the ear's works work
@article{Hudspeth1989HowTE,
title={How the ear's works work},
author={A. J. Hudspeth},
journal={Nature},
year={1989},
volume={341},
pages={397-404}
}The senses of hearing and equilibrium depend on sensory receptors called hair cells which can detect motions of atomic dimensions and respond more than 100,000 times a second. Biophysical studies suggest that mechanical forces control the opening and closing of transduction channels by acting through elastic components in each hair cell's mechanoreceptive hair bundle. Other ion channels, as well as the mechanical and hydrodynamic properties of hair bundles, tune individual hair cells to…
Topics from this paper
753 Citations
How the ear's works work: mechanoelectrical transduction and amplification by hair cells.
- Biology, MedicineComptes rendus biologies
- 2005
Recent research indicates that, at least in non-mammalian tetrapods, the active process results from the interaction of negative stiffness in the mechanosensitive hair bundles with two motor processes, one due to myosin-based adaptation and the other to Ca2+ -dependent reclosure of transduction channels.
Pairwise coupling of hair cell transducer channels links auditory sensitivity and dynamic range
- Biology, MedicinePflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology
- 2008
This work shows that this series mode of activation accurately explains measured transduction in hair cells and enhances both sensitivity and dynamic range of hair cell transduction, by one channel that is extremely sensitive at small displacements while the other responds best to larger stimuli.
The sensory and motor roles of auditory hair cells
- Chemistry, MedicineNature Reviews Neuroscience
- 2006
Recently identified proteins involved in the sensory and motor functions of auditory hair cells are described and evidence for each force generator is presented, likely to provide the high sensitivity and frequency discrimination of the mammalian cochlea.
Mechanoelectrical transduction by hair cells of the bullfrog's sacculus.
- Biology, MedicineProgress in brain research
- 1989
Hair cells of the internal ear respond to excitatory mechanical stimulation of their hair bundles by the rapid opening of poorly cation-selective transduction channels, which may be gated by forces applied through elastic linkages between adjacent stereocilia.
Adaptation in auditory hair cells
- Medicine, PhysicsCurrent Opinion in Neurobiology
- 2003
The tuning information conveyed in transduction may combine with the somatic motility of outer hair cells to produce an active process that supplies amplification and augments frequency selectivity in the mammalian cochlea.
The Ear's Gears: Mechanoelectrical Transduction by Hair Cells
- Biology
- 1994
Although the authors are generally unaware of the fact, their nervous systems constantly monitor a variety of mechanical stimuli, including blood vessels, the bladder, and the gut, which underlie their sensitivities to sound, to linear accelerations, and to angular accelerations.
Mechanoelectrical transduction by hair cells
- Medicine, BiologyTrends in Neurosciences
- 1992
Hair cells of the inner ear are specialized columnar epithelial cells, with an array of modified microvilli or stereocilia on their apical surface, interconnected by a series of linkages.
The development of cooperative channels explains the maturation of hair cell’s mechanotransduction
- Biology, Physics
- 2019
These phenomena can all be explained by the progressive addition of MET channels of constant properties, which populate the hair bundle first as isolated entities, then progressively as clusters of more sensitive, cooperative MET channels.
Channel gating forces govern accuracy of mechano-electrical transduction in hair cells
- Physics, MedicineProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- 2003
A stochastically imposed fundamental lower bound is determined on a hair cell's sensitivity to detect mechanically coded information arriving at its hair bundle that allows the detection of vibrational amplitudes with an accuracy on the order of nanometers.
The Development of Cooperative Channels Explains the Maturation of Hair Cell’s Mechanotransduction
- Physics, MedicineBiophysical journal
- 2019
These phenomena can all be explained by the progressive addition of MET channels of constant properties, which populate the hair bundle first as isolated entities and then progressively as clusters of more sensitive, cooperative MET channels.
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 108 REFERENCES
The role of fluid inertia in mechanical stimulation of hair cells
- Chemistry, MedicineHearing Research
- 1988
The principal conclusion is that fluid inertia plays a critical role in the mechanics of hair bundles and, hence, in the processes of sensory reception in hair-cell organs.
Gating Compliance, a Reduction in Hair-Bundle Stiffness Associated with the Gating of Transduction Channels in Hair Cells from the Bullfrog’s Sacculus
- Chemistry
- 1989
The electrical response of any organ of the internal ear or lateral-line system depends upon the hair cell’s sensitivity to mechanical stimulation. This mechano-sensitivity resides in the hair…
Transducer Motor Coupling in Cochlear Outer Hair Cells
- Chemistry
- 1989
Although many lines of evidence point to the outer hair cell as the element which controls basilar membrane mechanics, the precise nature of the interaction within the cochlear partition remains…
Transduction and tuning by vertebrate hair cells
- BiologyTrends in Neurosciences
- 1983
The current evidence bearing on both these roles of the vertebrate hair cell, that of transduction and that of filtering stimuli are discussed.
Electrical tuning of hair cells in the inner ear
- BiologyTrends in Neurosciences
- 1987
The evidence for one mechanism found in lower vertebrates, the hair cell membrane is tuned by an electrical resonance which arises from an interaction of a voltage-dependent Ca 2+ conductance and a Ca 2-activated K + conductance is examined.
Mechanical relaxation of the hair bundle mediates adaptation in mechanoelectrical transduction by the bullfrog's saccular hair cell.
- Chemistry, MedicineProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- 1987
Mechanoelectrical transduction by hair cells of the frog's internal ear displays adaptation: the electrical response to a maintained deflection of the hair bundle declines over a period of tens of…
Sensitivity, polarity, and conductance change in the response of vertebrate hair cells to controlled mechanical stimuli.
- Biology, MedicineProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- 1977
Hair cells, the primary receptors of the auditory, vestibular, and lateral-line sensory systems, produce electrical signals in response to mechanical stimulation of their apical hair bundles, and action potentials, possibly calcium spikes, were occasionally evoked in hair cells by mechanical or electrical stimulation.
Whole cell currents and mechanical responses of isolated outer hair cells
- Biology, MedicineHearing Research
- 1988
Using simultaneous whole cell voltage clamp and video analysis, it is demonstrated that the mechanical response of OHCs is not altered by agents which alter membrane currents under voltage clamp, thus the underlying mechanism of O HC movements appears to be dependent upon membrane potential, rather than transmembrane currents.
Stereocilia mediate transduction in vertebrate hair cells (auditory system/cilium/vestibular system).
- Biology, MedicineProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- 1979
The roles of stereocilia and kinocilium are examined by recording intracellularly from bullfrog saccular hair cells, finding that they mediate the transduction process of the vertebrate hair cell and may serve primarily as a linkage conveying mechanical displacements to the stereocilia.
Compliance of the hair bundle associated with gating of mechanoelectrical transduction channels in the Bullfrog's saccular hair cell
- Physics, MedicineNeuron
- 1988
The magnitude and displacement dependence of the gating compliance provide quantitative information about the molecular basis of mechanoelectrical transduction: the force required to open each channel, the number of transduction channels per hair cell, the stiffness of a gating spring, and the swing of a channel's gate as it opens.