title: Physiological effects of extracellular nucleotides in the inner ear.
abstract: 1. Electrochemical homeostasis, sound transduction and auditory neurotransmission in the cochlea are influenced by extracellular purines and pyrimidines. 2. Evidence that ATP and related nucleotides influence inner ear function arises from a considerable number of cellular, molecular and physiological studies in vitro and in vivo. 3. With a full understanding of these processes, which include ionotropic (P2X receptor) and metabotropic (P2Y receptor) signal transduction pathways, signal termination involving ecto-nucleotidases and recycling via nucleoside transporters, exciting possibilities emerge for treating hearing disorders, such as Meniere's disease, tinnitus and sensorineural deafness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, University of Auckland, New Zealand. g.housley@auckland.ac.nz
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Housley
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D007758:Ear, Inner / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D009711:Nucleotides; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate