title: HEI-OC1 cells as a model for investigating prestin function.
abstract: The House Ear Institute-Organ of Corti 1 (HEI-OC1) is a mouse auditory cell line that endogenously express, among other several markers of cochlear hair cells, the motor protein prestin (SLC26A5). Since its discovery fifteen years ago, and because of the difficulties associated with working with outer hair cells, prestin studies have been performed mostly by expressing it exogenously in non-specific systems such as HEK293 and TSA201, embryonic kidney cells from human origin, or Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. Here, we report flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy studies on the pattern of prestin expression, as well as nonlinear capacitance (NLC) and whole cell-patch clamping studies on prestin motor function, in HEI-OC1 cells cultured at permissive and non-permissive conditions. Our results indicate that both total prestin expression and plasma membrane localization increase in a time-dependent manner when HEI-OC1 cells differentiate under non-permissive culture conditions. In addition, we demonstrate that HEI-OC1 cells have a robust NLC associated to prestin motor function, which decreases when the density of prestin molecules present at the plasma membrane increases. Altogether, our results show that the response of endogenously expressed prestin in HEI-OC1 cells is different from the response of prestin expressed exogenously in non-auditory cells, and suggest that the HEI-OC1 cell line may be an important additional tool for investigating prestin function.
authors: Laboratory of Auditory Cell Biology, Department of Head & Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors: Channy
authors: C
authors: Park
authors: Laboratory of Auditory Cell Biology, Department of Head & Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors: Pru
authors: P
authors: Thein
authors: Laboratory of Auditory Cell Biology, Department of Head & Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors: Gilda
authors: G
authors: Kalinec
authors: Laboratory of Auditory Cell Biology, Department of Head & Neck Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. Electronic address: fkalinec@mednet.ucla.edu.
authors: Federico
authors: F
authors: Kalinec
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D027321:Anion Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002460:Cell Line; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D025802:Electric Capacitance; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018072:Hair Cells, Auditory, Outer / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D009925:Organ of Corti / Q000166:cytology; D000254:Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase / Q000378:metabolism*; D000076988:Sulfate Transporters
chemical_list: D027321:Anion Transport Proteins; C498719:SLC26A5 protein, human; D000076988:Sulfate Transporters; D000254:Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase
keywords: HEI-OC1 cells; Non-linear capacitance; Prestin; Prestin motor function; l-Thyroxine T4