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The Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 82 No. 5 November 1999, pp. 2798-2807
Copyright ©1999 by the American Physiological Society
andAuditory Physiology Laboratory (The Hugh Knowles Center), Department of Neurobiology and Physiology, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Institute for Neuroscience, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208
Hu, Xintian,
Burt N. Evans, and
Peter Dallos.
Direct Visualization of Organ of Corti Kinematics in a
Hemicochlea. J. Neurophysiol. 82: 2798-2807, 1999. The basilar membrane in the mammalian cochlea vibrates when
the cochlea receives a sound stimulus. This mechanical vibration is
transduced into hair cell receptor potentials and thereafter encoded by
action potentials in the auditory nerve. Knowledge of the mechanical
transformation that converts basilar membrane vibration into hair cell
stimulation has been limited, until recently, to hypothetical geometric
models. Experimental observations are largely lacking to prove or
disprove the validity of these models. We have developed a hemicochlea
preparation to visualize the kinematics of the cochlear micromechanism.
Direct mechanical drive of 1-2 Hz sinusoidal command was applied to
the basilar membrane. Vibration patterns of the basilar membrane, inner
and outer hair cells, supporting cells, and tectorial membrane have
been recorded concurrently by means of a video optical flow technique.
Basilar membrane vibration was driven in a direction transversal to its
plane. However, the direction of the resulting vibration was found to
be essentially radial at the level of the reticular lamina and
cuticular plates of inner and outer hair cells. The tectorial membrane
vibration was mainly transversal. The transmission ratio between cilia
displacement of inner and outer hair cells and basilar membrane
vibration is in the range of 0.7-1.1. These observations support, in
part, the classical geometric models at low frequencies. However, there appears to be less tectorial membrane motion than predicted, and it is
largely in the transversal direction.
Deceased September 1997.
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