Rate-dependent cochlear outer hair cell force generation: Models and parameter estimation.

ABSTRACT: The outer hair cells (OHCs) of the mammalian cochlea are the mediators of an active, nonlinear electromechanical process necessary for sensitive, frequency-specific hearing. The membrane protein prestin conveys to the OHC a piezoelectric-like behavior hypothesized to actuate a high frequency, cycle-by-cycle conversion of electrical to mechanical energy to boost cochlear responses to low-level sound. This hypothesis has been debated for decades, with two key remaining issues: the influence of the rate dependence of conformal changes in prestin and the OHC transmembrane impedance. In this paper, we mainly focus on the rate dependence of the conformal change in prestin. A theoretical electromechanical model of the OHC that explicitly includes rate dependence of conformal transitions, viscoela

SUBMITTER: Cai W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11480764 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature