.) This project is designed to describe some salient characteristics of mammalian cochlear hair cells. There are two types of such cells in our ears, inner hair cells and outer hair cells. The former are thought to be the true sensory receptors of the ear; they convey auditory information to the central nervous system. Outer hair cells, in contrast, may have primarily a mechanical effector (feedback) role in that they modify the mechanical input to the inner hair cells. To be studied in this project is the stimulus-response relations (electrical response versus hair deflection) for the two hair cell types in isolated organ of Corti segments. Also proposed is to study the mechanical motile response of outer hair cells to electrical stimulation and to hair deflection. These studies are conducted on single isolated outer hair cells for which a real life-like electrical-chemical-mechanical environment is provided. Hair cells are the key elements in the hearing process and their defects are the cause for the vast majority of hearing loss and deafness. Understanding their properties is a prerequisite for the eventual remediation of most hearing disorders.
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