Related papers: Frequency dependence of prestin: Intrinsic transit…
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…
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…
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 cell (OHC) nonlinear capacitance (NLC) represents voltage sensor charge movements of prestin (SLC26a5), the protein responsible for OHC electromotility. Previous measures of NLC frequency response have employed methods which did…
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…
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…
The hair cells of the vertebrate inner ear convert mechanical stimuli to electrical signals. Two adaptation mechanisms are known to modify the ionic current flowing through the transduction channels of the hair bundles: a rapid process…
We introduce the concept of self-tuned criticality as a general mechanism for signal detection in sensory systems. In the case of hearing, we argue that active amplification of faint sounds is provided by a dynamical system which is…
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…
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…
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…
In response to a sound stimulus, the inner ear emits sounds called otoacoustic emissions. While the exact mechanism for the production of otoacoustic emissions is not known, active motion of individual hair cells is thought to play a role.…
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,…
Most sounds of interest consist of complex, time-dependent admixtures of tones of diverse frequencies and variable amplitudes. To detect and process these signals, the ear employs a highly nonlinear, adaptive, real-time spectral analyzer:…
Hair cells, the sensory receptors of the internal ear, subserve different functions in various receptor organs: they detect oscillatory stimuli in the auditory system, but transduce constant and step stimuli in the vestibular and…
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 present a study investigating the role of mitochondrial variability in generating noise in eukaryotic cells. Noise in cellular physiology plays an important role in many fundamental cellular processes, including transcription,…
Sensory hair cells in auditory and vestibular organs rely on active mechanisms to achieve high sensitivity and frequency selectivity. Recent experimental studies have documented self-sustained oscillations in hair cells of lower vertebrates…