title: Piezo-electrically driven mechanical stimulation of sensory neurons.
abstract: Mechanotransduction, the conversion of a mechanical stimulus into a biological response, constitutes the basis of a variety of physiological functions such as the senses of touch, balance, proprioception, blood pressure, and hearing. In vertebrates, mechanosensation is mediated by mechanosensory neurons, whose cell bodies are located in trigeminal and dorsal root ganglia. Here, we describe an in vitro model of mechanotransduction that provides an opportunity to explore the properties of mechanosensitive channels in mammalian sensory neurons. The mechano-clamp method allows applying local force on plasma membrane of whole-cell patch-clamped sensory neurons. This technique uses a mechanical probe driven by a computer-assisted piezoelectric microstage to repeatedly stimulate sensory neurons with accurate control of stimulus strength, duration, and speed.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche en Neurobiologie et Neurophysiologie de Marseille, UMR 7286, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Jizhe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruel
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Coste
authors.forename: Yann
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Roudaut
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crest
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Delmas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004560:Electricity; D055724:Electrophysiological Phenomena; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000166:cytology*