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Deflections of the stereocilia in the opposite direction toward the shortest stereocilia causes transduction channels to close. In this situation, the hair cells become hyperpolarized and the nerve afferents are not excited. [7] [8] [9] There are two different types of fluid that surround the hair cells of the inner ear.
The cochlea has over 32,000 hair cells. Outer hair cells primarily provide amplification of traveling waves that are induced by sound energy, while inner hair cells detect the motion of those waves and excite the (Type I) neurons of the auditory nerve.
In mammalian outer hair cells, the varying receptor potential is converted to active vibrations of the cell body. This mechanical response to electrical signals is termed somatic electromotility; [13] it drives variations in the cell's length, synchronized to the incoming sound signal, and provides mechanical amplification by feedback to the traveling wave.
Hair cells die of old age, acoustic overstimulation and other traumas. [2] Oxotoxin exposure, such as aminoglycoside antibiotics and cisplatin, is also a major contributor to hair cell death. [7] Because mammals have very limited hair cell regeneration, hearing loss is essentially irreversible and therefore a therapeutic target for regeneration.
The outer hair cells play a significant role in the amplification of sound. Age-related hair cell degeneration is characterized by loss of stereocilia, shrinkage of hair cell soma, and reduction in outer hair cell mechanical properties, suggesting that functional decline in mechanotransduction and cochlear amplification precedes hair cell loss ...
Tiny cells in the inner ear, called hair cells, are responsible for hearing and balance. States of neuropathic pain, such as hyperalgesia and allodynia, are also directly related to mechanosensation. A wide array of elements are involved in the process of mechanosensation, many of which are still not fully understood.
Outer hair cells are a motor structure. Sound energy causes changes in the shape of these cells, which serves to amplify sound vibrations in a frequency specific manner. Lightly resting atop the longest cilia of the inner hair cells is the tectorial membrane, which moves back and forth with each cycle of sound, tilting the cilia, which is what ...
The opposing effects caused by a tilt of the head cause differential sensory inputs from the hair cell bundles allowing humans to tell which way the head is tilting. [8] Sensory information is then sent to the brain, which can respond with appropriate corrective actions to the nervous and muscular systems to ensure that balance and awareness ...