Prestin-based outer hair cell motility is necessary for mammalian cochlear amplification.
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.
Dallos
Peter
P
Department of Neurobiology and Physiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA. p-dallos@northwestern.edu
Wu
Xudong
X
Cheatham
Mary Ann
MA
Gao
Jiangang
J
Zheng
Jing
J
Anderson
Charles T
CT
Jia
Shuping
S
Wang
Xiang
X
Cheng
Wendy H Y
WH
Sengupta
Soma
S
He
David Z Z
DZ
Zuo
Jian
J
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*
D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; C498720:Pres protein, mouse