Prestin-Based Outer Hair Cell Motility Is Necessary for Mammalian Cochlear Amplification
- 作者：Peter Dallos ; Xudong Wu ; Mary Ann Cheatham ; Jiangang Gao ; Jing Zheng ; Charles T. Anderson ; Shuping Jia ; Xiang Wang ; Wendy H.Y. Cheng ; Soma Sengupta ; David Z.Z. He ; Jian Zuo
- 关键词：MOLNEURO
- 刊名：Neuron
- 出版年：2008
- 期刊代码：45_08966273
- 类别：neu
- 出版时间：8 May 2008
- 卷：58
- 期：3
- 页码：333-339
- 文件大小：770 K
摘要
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.