biostudies-literatureCaprara GANIDCD NIH HHSNational Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorderseabb4922https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC7428330biostudies-literatureUnknown6(33)Hair cells detect sound and motion through a mechano-electric transduction (MET) process mediated by tip links connecting shorter stereocilia to adjacent taller stereocilia. Adaptation is a key feature of MET that regulates a cell's dynamic range and frequency selectivity. A decades-old hypothesis proposes that slow adaptation requires myosin motors to modulate the tip-link position on taller stereocilia. This "motor model" depended on data suggesting that the receptor current decay had a time course similar to that of hair-bundle creep (a continued movement in the direction of a step-like force stimulus). Using cochlear and vestibular hair cells of mice, rats, and gerbils, we assessed how modulating adaptation affected hair-bundle creep. Our results are consistent with slow adaptation requiring myosin motors. However, the hair-bundle creep and slow adaptation were uncorrelated, challenging a critical piece of evidence upholding the motor model. Considering these data, we propose a revised model of hair cell adaptation.Science advancesDecades-old model of slow adaptation in sensory hair cells is not supported in mammals.PMC7428330R01 DC016868F31 DC018457R00 DC013299Peng AWCaprara GAMecca AAfalseDecades-old model of slow adaptation in sensory hair cells is not supported in mammals.Hair cells detect sound and motion through a mechano-electric transduction (MET) process mediated by tip links connecting shorter stereocilia to adjacent taller stereocilia. Adaptation is a key feature of MET that regulates a cell's dynamic range and frequency selectivity. A decades-old hypothesis proposes that slow adaptation requires myosin motors to modulate the tip-link position on taller stereocilia. This "motor model" depended on data suggesting that the receptor current decay had a time course similar to that of hair-bundle creep (a continued movement in the direction of a step-like force stimulus). Using cochlear and vestibular hair cells of mice, rats, and gerbils, we assessed how modulating adaptation affected hair-bundle creep. Our results are consistent with slow adaptation requiring myosin motors. However, the hair-bundle creep and slow adaptation were uncorrelated, challenging a critical piece of evidence upholding the motor model. Considering these data, we propose a revised model of hair cell adaptation.2020-01-01T00:00:00Z2020 Aug2024-02-15T04:24:16.778Z2020-08-29T07:23:51ZS-EPMC74283303285117810.1126/sciadv.abb4922