Figures
Two-step mechanism regenerating mechanosensitivity in the mammalian auditory hair cells.
A new study explains how nonregenerating inner ear hair cells maintain lifelong mechanosensitivity. The image illustrates tiny extracellular tip links that "pull" mechanotransduction channels in the hair cells. These links are continually stressed by loud sounds and regenerated throughout an organism's life. The study revealed an unexpected mechanism of two-step remodeling of the tip link molecular components during tip link regeneration. See Indzhykulian et al. in this issue.
Image Credit: Gregory Frolenkov
Citation: (2013) PLOS Biology Issue Image | Vol. 11(6) June 2013. PLOS Biol 11(6): ev11.i06. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pbio.v11.i06
Published: June 25, 2013
Copyright: © 2013 Frolenkov. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
A new study explains how nonregenerating inner ear hair cells maintain lifelong mechanosensitivity. The image illustrates tiny extracellular tip links that "pull" mechanotransduction channels in the hair cells. These links are continually stressed by loud sounds and regenerated throughout an organism's life. The study revealed an unexpected mechanism of two-step remodeling of the tip link molecular components during tip link regeneration. See Indzhykulian et al. in this issue.
Image Credit: Gregory Frolenkov