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Their primary function is mechanotransduction, or conversion between mechanical and neural signals. The relatively small number of the auditory hair cells is surprising when compared to other sensory cells such as the rods and cones of the visual system. Thus the loss of a lower number (in the order of thousands) of auditory hair cells can be ...
The anterior part of the saccule exhibits an oval thickening, the macula acustica sacculi, or macula, to which are distributed the saccular filaments of the vestibular branch of the vestibulocochlear nerve, also known as the statoacoustic nerve or cranial nerve VIII. Within the macula are hair cells, each having a hair bundle on the apical aspect.
The macula of utricle (macula acustica utriculi) is a small (2 by 3 mm) thickening lying horizontally on the floor of the utricle where the epithelium contains vestibular hair cells that allow a person to perceive changes in latitudinal acceleration as well as the effects of gravity; it receives the utricular filaments of the acoustic nerve ...
The function of the organ of Corti is to convert sounds into electrical signals that can be transmitted to the brainstem through the auditory nerve. [2] It is the auricle and middle ear that act as mechanical transformers and amplifiers so that the sound waves end up with amplitudes 22 times greater than when they entered the ear.
There are two types of hair cells specific to the auditory system; inner and outer hair cells. Inner hair cells are the mechanoreceptors for hearing: they transduce the vibration of sound into electrical activity in nerve fibers, which is transmitted to the brain. Outer hair cells are a motor structure.
The neurotransmitters diffuse across the narrow space between the hair cell and a nerve terminal, where they then bind to receptors and thus trigger action potentials in the nerve. In this way, the mechanical sound signal is converted into an electrical nerve signal. Repolarization of hair cells is done in a special manner.
Proliferating supporting cells can acquire hair cell fate in mitotic division. The mouse's neonatal supporting cells proliferate after hair cell death and regenerate hair cells after damage. [26] The neonatal cochlea is resistant to hair cell damage caused by exposure to noise or drugs, which are toxic to the cochlea, or auditory nerve, in vivo ...
When tension increases, the flow of ions across the membrane into the hair cell rises as well. Such influx of ions causes a depolarization of the cell, resulting in an electrical potential that ultimately leads to a signal for the auditory nerve and the brain. The identity of the mechanosensitive channels in the stereocilia is still unknown.