Guinea pig isolated vestibular type I hair cells (VIHCs) were recently reported by our group to respond to high [KCl] solutions by an irreversible tilt of their neck region and sometimes by a sustained shortening and swelling. A possible osmotic contribution to these shape changes was investigated by substituting gluconate (G) for chloride in the test solution, so as to minimize water influx, and also by changing the osmotic pressure of the extracellular solution. For comparison, similar experiments were also undertaken on cochlear outer hair cells (OHCs). Utricular and ampullar type I hair cells were more difficult to isolate than OHCs and, like them, responded to an isotonic high [KCl] solution by a sustained shortening and widening, which were found to be reversible for most cells when rinsed with the control solution. In a high [KG] solution, all OHCs showed a shortening reversible in the test solution; among the VIHCs tested, two-thirds presented a slight sustained shortening without widening and a third showed a spontaneously reversible shortening, particularly at the neck level. VIHCs exposed to a high [N-methyl-D-glucamine chloride] solution, this impermeant cation replacing K+ for control, presented only a slight sustained shortening. In response to osmotic changes of the bathing medium, both VIHCs and OHCs showed a sustained shortening or elongation (the latter to a lesser degree) for hypo- and hyperosmotic solutions, respectively. The VIHCs and OHCs that presented a reversible shortening in a high [KG] solution widened concomitantly with their shortening, but to a smaller extent compared with what was observed in a high [KCl] solution, and this diameter increase was reversible in the test solution, unlike the widening observed in a hypotonic solution. These results show that a reversible shortening occurred for some VIHCs; they also indicate the involvement of two components in the KCl-induced response: one osmotic and another potassium-dependent.
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