Biophysics of Mechanoreception

Abstract

Several types of cells' skeletal, muscle, nerve, epthithelia, and heart have been shown to contain ion channeis which are sensitive to membrane tension. In chick skeletal muscle, the transduction persists in excised patches and involves no chemical messengers. Quantitative analysis of single channel records reveals that the sensitivity to stretch can be described by a linear four state model with three closed (C) and one open (O) state:

When a channel with the above properties is incorporated into a simple model of mechanical transduction in hair cells, the resulting model is capable of explaining the kinetic features and the sensitivity found in the cochlear-vestibular system.

The proposed gating mechanism of mechanical transduction appears to be general and can account for existing data on a variety of systems.

Key Words:

• ion channels
• patch clamp
• hair cells
• mecha-notransducer
• cytoskeleton