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Stereocilia (or stereovilli or villi) are non-motile apical cell modifications. They are distinct from cilia and microvilli , but are closely related to microvilli. They form single "finger-like" projections that may be branched, with normal cell membrane characteristics.
The macula of saccule lies in a nearly vertical position. It is a 2mm by 3mm patch of hair cells. Each hair cell of the macula contains 40 to 70 stereocilia and one true cilia, called a kinocilium. A gelatinous cover called the otolithic membrane envelops the tips of the stereocilia and kinocilium.
Pictures G-N show the tip links connecting the stereocilia. Tip links are extracellular filaments that connect stereocilia to each other or to the kinocilium in the hair cells of the inner ear. [1] [2] Mechanotransduction is thought to occur at the site of the tip links, which connect to spring-gated ion channels. [3]
Stereocilia of frog inner ear. In the inner ear, stereocilia are the mechanosensing organelles of hair cells, which respond to fluid motion in numerous types of animals for various functions, including hearing and balance.
the cochlear duct or scala media (containing endolymph) a region of high potassium ion concentration that the stereocilia of the hair cells project into; The helicotrema, the location where the tympanic duct and the vestibular duct merge, at the apex of the cochlea; Reissner's membrane, which separates the vestibular duct from the cochlear duct
The stereocilia are oriented by the striola, a curved ridge that runs through the middle of the macula; in the saccule they are oriented away from the striola [2] The tips of the stereocilia and kinocilium are embedded in a gelatinous otolithic membrane. This membrane is weighted with protein-calcium carbonate granules called otoliths, which ...
The stereocilia number from fifty to a hundred in each cell while being tightly packed together [2] and decrease in size the further away they are located from the kinocilium. [ 3 ] Mammalian cochlear hair cells are of two anatomically and functionally distinct types, known as outer, and inner hair cells.
As a result, the cupula is deflected opposite the direction of head movement. As the endolymph pushes the cupula, the stereocilia is bent as well, stimulating the hair cells within the crista ampullaris. After a short time of continual rotation however, the endolymph's acceleration normalizes with the rate of rotation of the semicircular ducts.