Direct mechanical stimulation of tip links in hair cells through DNA tethers
Abstract
Mechanoelectrical transduction by hair cells commences with hair-bundle deflection, which is postulated to tense filamentous tip links connected to transduction channels. Because direct mechanical stimulation of tip links has not been experimentally possible, this hypothesis has not been tested directly. We have engineered DNA tethers that link superparamagnetic beads to tip links and exert mechanical forces on the links when exposed to a magnetic-field gradient. By pulling directly on tip links of the bullfrog's sacculus we have evoked transduction currents from hair cells, confirming the hypothesis that tension in the tip links opens transduction channels. This demonstration of direct mechanical access to tip links additionally lays a foundation for experiments probing the mechanics of individual channels.
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Ethics
Animal experimentation: All procedures were approved by the University's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee under protocol 13665. Animals were sacrificed by dual pithing after anesthesia by immersion in ethyl-3-aminobenzoate methanesulfonic acid.
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© 2016, Basu et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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