A prestin motor in chicken auditory hair cells: active force generation in a nonmammalian species.

ABSTRACT: Active force generation by outer hair cells (OHCs) underlies amplification and frequency tuning in the mammalian cochlea but whether such a process exists in nonmammals is unclear. Here, we demonstrate that hair cells of the chicken auditory papilla possess an electromechanical force generator in addition to active hair bundle motion due to mechanotransducer channel gating. The properties of the force generator, its voltage dependence and susceptibility to salicylate, as well as an associated chloride-sensitive nonlinear capacitance, suggest involvement of the chicken homolog of prestin, the OHC motor protein. The presence of chicken prestin in the hair cell lateral membrane was confirmed by immunolabeling studies. The hair bundle and prestin motors together create sufficient force to prod

SUBMITTER: Beurg M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3713163 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature