STUDIES IN COCHLEAR HAIR CELL TRANSDUCTION

哺乳动物的听力器官中有两种感觉受体细胞 即所谓的内毛细胞和外毛细胞。内毛细胞 将大多数听觉信息传递给大脑，而大脑的作用 外毛细胞可能是为了放大内毛细胞的输入。我们的 工作的目的是描述这些耳轮的操作和在听力中的作用 两种细胞类型。这些细胞的细胞内记录是在 麻醉的豚鼠。我们的技术允许从两个单元格进行录制 类型和来自耳蜗线的不同位置。这事很重要 因为不同的声音频率是在不同的耳蜗处处理的 地点。有证据表明，外毛的手术方式 然而，观察基于不同的技术，因此， 并不是无可辩驳的。我们打算将相同的技术用于 从所有耳蜗位置进行记录，从而确定是否 外毛细胞的功能存在纵向差异。 没有内毛细胞，就没有听力。没有听到毛细胞的声音， 听力严重恶化。有超过2000万次听证会 美国的残疾人。他们中的大多数人都遭受着 毛细胞，尤其是外毛细胞受损所致的障碍。一个 了解毛细胞的神经生物学是预防和 听力损失的最终补救方法。我们的工作一直是，也是为了 提供这样的基本理解。

There are two types of sensory receptor cell in the mammalian hearing organ (the cochlea), the so-called inner and outer hair cells. Inner hair cells convey most auditory information to the brain, whereas the role of the outer hair cells may be to amplify the input to the inner hair cells. Our work is designed to describe the operation and the role in hearing of these two cell types. Intracellular recordings are made from these cells in anesthetised guinea pigs. Our techniques allow recordings from both cell types and from different locations along the cochlea. This is important because different sound frequencies are processed at different cochlear locations. There is some evidence that the mode of operation of outer hair observations, however, are based on different techniques and, consequently, are not incontrovertible. We intend to use identical techniques in recording from all cochlear locations and thus to ascertain whether or not there are longitudinal differences in outer hair cell function. Without inner hair cells there is no hearing. Without hearing hair cells, hearing is severely deteriorated. There are over 20 million hearing impaired individuals in the U.S. The majority of them suffer their handicap due to hair cell, particularly outer hair cell, damage. An understanding of the neurobiology of hair cells is a key to prevention and eventual remediation of hearing loss. Our work has been and is designed to provide such fundamental understanding.