High frequency force generation in outer hair cells from the mammalian ear

BioEssays ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Holley
Author(s):  
Hui Wang ◽  
Hanbo Zhao ◽  
Yujia Chu ◽  
Jiang Feng ◽  
Keping Sun

Abstract High-frequency hearing is particularly important for echolocating bats and toothed whales. Previously, studies of the hearing-related genes Prestin, KCNQ4, and TMC1 documented that adaptive evolution of high-frequency hearing has taken place in echolocating bats and toothed whales. In this study, we present two additional candidate hearing-related genes, Shh and SK2, that may also have contributed to the evolution of echolocation in mammals. Shh is a member of the vertebrate Hedgehog gene family and is required in the specification of the mammalian cochlea. SK2 is expressed in both inner and outer hair cells, and it plays an important role in the auditory system. The coding region sequences of Shh and SK2 were obtained from a wide range of mammals with and without echolocating ability. The topologies of phylogenetic trees constructed using Shh and SK2 were different; however, multiple molecular evolutionary analyses showed that those two genes experienced different selective pressures in echolocating bats and toothed whales compared to non-echolocating mammals. In addition, several nominally significant positively selected sites were detected in the non-functional domain of the SK2 gene, indicating that different selective pressures were acting on different parts of the SK2 gene. This study has expanded our knowledge of the adaptive evolution of high-frequency hearing in echolocating mammals.


2014 ◽  
Vol 620 ◽  
pp. 248-252
Author(s):  
Qi Jiu Li ◽  
Xian De Zhang ◽  
Ting Ting Xu ◽  
Jiang Xia Yin

Outer hair cells (OHCs) have a unique ability to contract and elongate in response to changes in intracellular potential, and Prestin is the motor protein of the cochlea of the OHCs. It is the first time to invest the Prestin expression in different bat species. To invest Prestin expression in different bat species, which have different frequency, we did the coronal sections’ staining of the cochlea using immunhistochemistry. Experiment was designed to determine if the high-frequency bats’ OHCs have more expression than the low-frequency bats’OHCs. We found that the expression in three species was similar and had no obvious difference. Though the study of bats Prestin evolution suggested that Prestin has accelerating evolution in echolocation bats with high frequency, our we showed that the Prestin expression has nothing to do with the frequency, and the Prestin expression in high-frequency bats and low-frequency bats is similar.


1992 ◽  
Vol 336 (1278) ◽  
pp. 317-324 ◽  

Receptor potentials recorded from outer hair cells (ohc ) and inner hair cells (ihc) in the basal highfrequency turn were com pared. The dc component of the ihc receptor potential is maximized to ensure that ihcs can signal a voltage response to high-frequency tones. The ohc dc component is minimized so that ohcs transduce in the most sensitive region of their operating range. The phase and magnitude of ohc receptor potentials were recorded as an indicator of the magnitude and phase of the energy which is fed back to the basilar membrane to provide the basis for the sharp tuning and fine sensitivity of the cochlea to tones. IHC receptor potentials were recorded to assess the net effect of the feedback on the mechanics of the cochlea. It was concluded that ohcs generate feedback which enhances the ihc responses only at the best frequency. At frequencies below cf, ihc dc responses are elicited only when the ohc ac responses begin to saturate.


1995 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 2319-2328 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Hallworth

1. Cochlear outer hair cells 20-80 microns in length were compressed axially in vitro using calibrated glass fibers mounted on a piezoelectric actuator. 2. When driven by rectangular pulses in the compression direction, the motion of the fiber tip consisted of a rapid initial compression that was complete in 10-20 ms followed by a smaller compression of slower time course. 3. The initial fiber deflections were found to be linear in amplitude for compressions up to 400 nm. The axial compliances of outer hair cells were calculated from the difference between the fiber tip motions when unattached and when in contact with a cell. Axial compliances were found to be in the range of 0.04-1.2 km/N for 149 cells. The axial compliance was an increasing function of cell length. 4. The peak forces generated by electrically stimulated outer hair cells were measured from the deflection of a glass fiber when the cells were stimulated by sinusoidal voltage commands. The slope gains of force generation (force generated per mV of command at the cell membrane) were estimated to range from 0.01 to 100 pN/mV. Most of the results fell in the range of 0.1-20 pN/mV. 5. When the apparent stiffness of the fiber was increased by moving the cell closer to the fiber base, the peak amplitude of the fiber deflection generated by the cell decreased and the peak force increased, for the same sinusoidal voltage command. 6. The results of the previous experiment were interpreted in the light of a model of outer hair cell motility in which an ideal extension generating element is in series with an internal stiffness element. This internal stiffness was then calculated for 13 cells. 7. The internal stiffnesses of cells calculated by the above procedure were found to be positively correlated with the axial stiffness measurements obtained for the same cells. 8. The implications of the above results for the effectiveness of outer hair cell motility in vivo are discussed.


1992 ◽  
Vol 112 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. P. Zenner ◽  
A. H. Gitter ◽  
M. Rudert ◽  
A. Ernst

Science ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 267 (5206) ◽  
pp. 2006-2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Dallos ◽  
B. Evans

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 1821-1830 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. N. Rohmann ◽  
E. Wersinger ◽  
J. P. Braude ◽  
S. J. Pyott ◽  
P. A. Fuchs

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