Power dissipation in the subtectorial space of the mammalian cochlea is modulated by inner hair cell stereocilia.

ABSTRACT: The stereocilia bundle is the mechano-transduction apparatus of the inner ear. In the mammalian cochlea, the stereocilia bundles are situated in the subtectorial space (STS)--a micrometer-thick space between two flat surfaces vibrating relative to each other. Because microstructures vibrating in fluid are subject to high-viscous friction, previous studies considered the STS as the primary place of energy dissipation in the cochlea. Although there have been extensive studies on how metabolic energy is used to compensate the dissipation, much less attention has been paid to the mechanism of energy dissipation. Using a computational model, we investigated the power dissipation in the STS. The model simulates fluid flow around the inner hair cell (IHC) stereocilia bundle. The power dissipation

SUBMITTER: Prodanovic S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4317540 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature