TY - GEN
T1 - Novel roles for prestin in frequency tuning and neural excitation in the mouse cochlea
AU - Mellado Lagarde, Marcia M.
AU - Drexl, Markus
AU - Lukashkin, Andrei N.
AU - Zuo, Jian
AU - Russell, Ian J.
PY - 2008/1/1
Y1 - 2008/1/1
N2 - The motor protein prestin in the outer hair cells is a prime candidate for the molecular amplifier that ensures the sensitivity, frequency tuning and dynamic range of the mammalian cochlea. Absence of prestin results in a 40-60 dB reduction in cochlear neural sensitivity. Here we show that sound-evoked basilar membrane (BM) vibrations in the basal cochleae of prestin-/- mice are as sensitive as those of their prestin+/+ siblings. BM vibrations in prestin-/- mice are, however, broadly tuned to a frequency ~ a half octave below the characteristic frequency (CF) of similar BM locations in prestin+/+ mice. The peak sensitivity of prestin+/+ BM tuning curves matches the neural thresholds, while prestin-/- BM tuning curves at the best frequency are > 50 dB more sensitive than the neural responses. We conclude that prestin influences properties of the cochlear partition that are crucial for BM frequency tuning and for converting its vibrations into neural excitation.
AB - The motor protein prestin in the outer hair cells is a prime candidate for the molecular amplifier that ensures the sensitivity, frequency tuning and dynamic range of the mammalian cochlea. Absence of prestin results in a 40-60 dB reduction in cochlear neural sensitivity. Here we show that sound-evoked basilar membrane (BM) vibrations in the basal cochleae of prestin-/- mice are as sensitive as those of their prestin+/+ siblings. BM vibrations in prestin-/- mice are, however, broadly tuned to a frequency ~ a half octave below the characteristic frequency (CF) of similar BM locations in prestin+/+ mice. The peak sensitivity of prestin+/+ BM tuning curves matches the neural thresholds, while prestin-/- BM tuning curves at the best frequency are > 50 dB more sensitive than the neural responses. We conclude that prestin influences properties of the cochlear partition that are crucial for BM frequency tuning and for converting its vibrations into neural excitation.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067067986&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution with ISSN or ISBN
AN - SCOPUS:85067067986
T3 - Concepts and Challenges in the Biophysics of Hearing - Proceedings of the 10th International Workshop on the Mechanics of Hearing, MoH 2008
SP - 148
EP - 154
BT - Concepts and Challenges in the Biophysics of Hearing - Proceedings of the 10th International Workshop on the Mechanics of Hearing, MoH 2008
A2 - Kemp, David T.
A2 - Cooper, Nigel P.
PB - World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte Ltd
T2 - 10th International Workshop on the Mechanics of Hearing - Concepts and Challenges in the Biophysics of Hearing, MoH 2008
Y2 - 27 July 2008 through 31 July 2008
ER -