title: An adaptive model simulating the somatic motility and the active hair bundle motion of the OHC.
abstract: The outer hair cells (OHC) of the mammalian inner ear change the sensitivity and frequency selectivity of the filtering system of the cochlea using two kinds of mechanical activity: the somatic motility and the active hair bundle motion. We designed a non-linear adaptive model of the OHC employing both mechanisms of the mechanical activity. The modeling results show that the high sensitivity and frequency selectivity of the filtering system of the cochlea depend on the somatic motility of the OHC. However, both mechanisms of mechanical activity are involved in the adaptation to sound intensity and efferent-synaptic influence. The fast (alternating) component (AC) of the mechanical-electrical transduction signal controls the motor protein prestin and fast changes in axial length of the cell. The slow (direct) component (DC) appearing at high signal intensity affects the axial stiffness, the cell length and the position of the hair bundle. The efferent influence is realized by the same mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Electronics, Kaunas University of Technology, Kaunas, Lithuania.
authors.forename: Antanas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stasiunas
authors.forename: Antanas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verikas
authors.forename: Rimvydas
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Miliauskas
authors.forename: Natalija
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stasiuniene
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003198:Computer Simulation; D018072:Hair Cells, Auditory, Outer / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics
chemical_list: D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins