F-0911 外有毛細胞側壁の形態観察及び機械的特性解明(J21-3 細胞のバイオメカニクス)(J21 生体構造と組織のバイオメカニクス)

概要

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It is well established that the isolated outer hair cell (OHC) can elongate and contract in response to an electrical stimulation. This electromotility is suggested to produce the force and affect the motion of the basilar membrane. As a result, the force production of the OHC presumably leads to the fine tuning of the mammalian cochlea. As the electromotility putatively arises from a conformational change of molecules, i.e., "protein motors" and they might be distributed along the OHC lateral wall, the force generated by the OHC would be related to the mechanical properties of the lateral wall. Recently, Usukura et al. (2001) reported that the stiffness of the apical part of the OHC is larger than that of the other region. Such a difference in the stiffness might come from the regional difference in the structure of the OHC lateral wall. However, detailed structure of the cell lateral wall has not been studied yet. Therefore, in this study, using an atomic force microscope, the surface of the OHC lateral wall is observed.
2001-08-22