Static length changes of cochlear outer hair cells can tune low-frequency hearing
Fig 1
The organ of Corti and model geometry.
(A) Micrograph of the apical organ of Corti from a guinea-pig cochlea [45]. Dark lipid droplets inside the Hensen cells serve as reflectors for a laser-interferometric beam. (B) Schematic representation of the organ of Corti as used in our geometric model. Length changes of the outer hair cell yield a deformation of the fluid space consisting of the tunnel of Corti, the space of Nuel, and the outer tunnel (blue) as well as the space of the body of Hensen cells (red) such that their cross-sectional areas are conserved separately. The scale bar denotes 20 μm.