Unifying the various incarnations of active hair-bundle motility by the vertebrate hair cell.

ABSTRACT: The dazzling sensitivity and frequency selectivity of the vertebrate ear rely on mechanical amplification of the hair cells' responsiveness to small stimuli. As revealed by spontaneous oscillations and forms of mechanical excitability in response to force steps, the hair bundle that adorns each hair cell is both a mechanosensory antenna and a force generator that might participate in the amplificatory process. To study the various incarnations of active hair-bundle motility, we combined Ca(2+) iontophoresis with mechanical stimulation of single hair bundles from the bullfrog's sacculus. We identified three classes of active hair-bundle movements: a hair bundle could be quiescent but display nonmonotonic twitches in response to either excitatory or inhibitory force steps, or oscillate spont

SUBMITTER: Tinevez JY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2084239 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature