spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif Propose a Workshop for 2011 spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online May 19, 2008
Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 1775-1780 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
doi: 10.1242/jeb.017616
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in JEB
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Roberts, W. M.
Right arrow Articles by Rutherford, M. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Roberts, W. M.
Right arrow Articles by Rutherford, M. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Sensory encoding in hearing and balance

Linear and nonlinear processing in hair cells

William M. Roberts* and Mark A. Rutherford

Institute of Neuroscience, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: billr{at}uoregon.edu)

Accepted 25 March 2008

Summary

Mechanosensory hair cells in the ear are exquisitely responsive to minute sensory inputs, nearly to the point of instability. Active mechanisms bias the transduction apparatus and subsequent electrical amplification away from saturation in either the negative or positive direction, to an operating point where the response to small signals is approximately linear. An active force generator coupled directly to the transducer enhances sensitivity and frequency selectivity, and counteracts energy loss to viscous drag. Active electrical amplification further enhances gain and frequency selectivity. In both cases, nonlinear properties may maintain the system close to instability, as evidenced by small spontaneous oscillations, while providing a compressive nonlinearity that increases the cell's operating range. Transmitter release also appears to be frequency selective and biased to operate most effectively near the resting potential. This brief overview will consider the resting stability of hair cells, and their responses to small perturbations that correspond to soft sounds or small accelerations.

Key words: hair cell, linear, nonlinear, transduction, Hopf bifurcation, adaptation, electrical resonance


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in JEB:

NEUROSENSORY ECOLOGY IN THE JEB
Kathryn Phillips
JEB 2008 211: i. [Full Text]  



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
M. A. Rutherford and W. M. Roberts
Spikes and Membrane Potential Oscillations in Hair Cells Generate Periodic Afferent Activity in the Frog Sacculus
J. Neurosci., August 12, 2009; 29(32): 10025 - 10037.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2008