title: Prestin-based outer hair cell motility is necessary for mammalian cochlear amplification.
abstract: It is a central tenet of cochlear neurobiology that mammalian ears rely on a local, mechanical amplification process for their high sensitivity and sharp frequency selectivity. While it is generally agreed that outer hair cells provide the amplification, two mechanisms have been proposed: stereociliary motility and somatic motility. The latter is driven by the motor protein prestin. Electrophysiological phenotyping of a prestin knockout mouse intimated that somatic motility is the amplifier. However, outer hair cells of knockout mice have significantly altered mechanical properties, making this mouse model unsatisfactory. Here, we study a mouse model without alteration to outer hair cell and organ of Corti mechanics or to mechanoelectric transduction, but with diminished prestin function. These animals have knockout-like behavior, demonstrating that prestin-based electromotility is required for cochlear amplification.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and Physiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. p-dallos@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dallos
authors.forename: Xudong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Mary Ann
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Cheatham
authors.forename: Jiangang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Charles T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Shuping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wendy H Y
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Soma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sengupta
authors.forename: David Z Z
authors.initials: DZ
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zuo
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D002923:Cilia / Q000502:physiology; D018072:Hair Cells, Auditory, Outer / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D006309:Hearing / Q000502:physiology*; D008322:Mammals; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D023421:Models, Animal; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; C498720:Pres protein, mouse