Related papers: Complex nonlinear capacitance in outer hair cell m…
The outer hair cell (OHC) membrane harbors a voltage-dependent protein, prestin (SLC26a5), in high density, whose charge movement is evidenced as a nonlinear capacitance (NLC). NLC is bell-shaped, with its peak occurring at a voltage, Vh,…
The outer hair cell (OHC) of the organ of Corti underlies a mechanically based process that enhances hearing, termed cochlear amplification. The cell possesses a unique motor protein, prestin, which senses voltage and consequently changes…
The ability of the mammalian ear in processing high frequency sounds, up to $\sim$100 kHz, is based on the capability of outer hair cells (OHCs) responding to stimulation at high frequencies. These cells show a unique motility in their cell…
Prestin (SLC26A5), a protein essential for the sensitivity of the mammalian ear, was so named from \emph{presto}. The assumption was that this membrane protein supports fast movement of outer hair cells (OHCs) that matches the mammalian…
Outer hair cells in the inner ear is important for the sensitivity, frequency selectivity, and dynamic range of the mammalian ear. Such a physiological role of outer hair cells is thought to be based an amplifying effect of those cells,…
Electromotility of outer hair cells (OHCs) has been extensively studied with in vitro experiments because of its physiological significance in the cochlear amplifier, which provides the exquisite sensitivity and frequency selectivity of the…
The effectiveness of outer hair cells (OHCs) in amplifying the motion of the organ of Corti, and thereby contributing to the sensitivity of mammalian hearing, depends on the mechanical power output of these cells. Electromechanical coupling…
Cochlear outer hair cells (OHCs) have two mechanosensitive elements: the hair bundle with mechanotrasducer channels and the piezoelectric lateral wall of the cell body. The present report examines how these elements interact with each other…
Outer hair cells (OHCs) are essential for the sensitivity and frequency specificity of the mammalian ear. To perform this function, OHCs need to amplify the motion of the basilar membrane (BM), which is much stiffer than themselves. If OHCs…
Avian hair cells depend on electrical resonance for frequency selectivity. The upper bound of the frequency range is limited by the RC time constant of hair cells because the sharpness of tuning requires that the resonance frequency must be…
Avian prestin is sensitive to membrane thickness as much as mammalian prestin, which undergoes conformational transitions in membrane area and thereby drives length changes of the cylindrical cell body of outer hair cells. The membrane…
Overlimiting current (OLC) through electrolytes interfaced with perm-selective membranes has been extensively researched in recent years for understanding the fundamental mechanisms of transport and developing efficient applications from…
The sensitivity and frequency selectivity of hearing result from tuned amplification by an active process in the mechanoreceptive hair cells. In most vertebrates the active process stems from the active motility of hair bundles. The…
The electrical properties of extracellular space around neurons are important to understand the genesis of extracellular potentials, as well as for localizing neuronal activity from extracellular recordings. However, the exact nature of…
Animal cells in tissues are supported by biopolymer matrices, which typically exhibit highly nonlinear mechanical properties. While the linear elasticity of the matrix can significantly impact cell mechanics and functionality, it remains…
Living cells exhibit an important out-of-equilibrium mechanical activity, mainly due to the forces generated by molecular motors. These motor proteins, acting individually or collectively on the cytoskeleton, contribute to the violation of…
We study the effects of the sequence on the propagation of nonlinear excitations in simple models of DNA, and how those effects are modified by noise. Starting from previous results on soliton dynamics on lattices defined by aperiodic…
We built a flexible platform to study the mechanical operation of the organ of Corti (OoC) in the transduction of basilar membrane (BM) vibrations to oscillations of an inner hair cell bundle (IHB). The anatomical components that we…
Biomembranes are thin capacitors with the unique feature of displaying phase transitions in a physiologically relevant regime. We investigate the voltage and lateral pressure dependence of their capacitance close to their chain melting…
Cellular migration is crucial for biological processes including embryonic development, immune response, and wound healing. The myosin-clutch model is a framework that describes how cells control migration through the interactions between…