Physiological Basis of Cochlear Transduction and Sensitivity

Abstract

Experiments were conducted in the guinea pig cochlea and the Xenopus laevis lateral line organ to obtain information about the electrical impedance properties of the cochlea, the sources and characteristics of the cochlear potentials, and to determine if hair cells are electrically excitable. The significance of the resting and evoked cochlear potentials in the transduction process leading to excitation of the acoustic nerve fibers was evaluated by comparing the results of electrophysiological experiments with the prediction of a model of the cochlea designed after the mechanoelectric theory of hair cell function. The results of these experiments 1) were compatible with the prediction of the mechoelectric theory of cochlear function; 2) made it possible to estimate and compare the energy dissipated in generating and maintaining the cochlear potentials with the stores of biochemical energy available in the cochlea; and 3) showed that the hair cells are electrically excitable, from which it was concluded that interaction between the hair cells is feasible.