Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Brief Communications
Nature 418, 837-838 (22 August 2002) | doi:10.1038/418837a
Structural cell biology: Rapid renewal of auditory hair bundles
Mark E. Schneider, Inna A. Belyantseva, Ricardo B. Azevedo & Bechara Kachar
Abstract
The recovery time after noise-induced hearing loss is in step with a molecular treadmill.
Abstract
Stereocilia, also known as hair bundles, are mechanosensitive organelles of the sensory hair cells of the inner ear that can detect displacements on a nanometre scale and are supported by a rigid, dense core of actin filaments. Here we show that these actin-filament arrays are continuously remodelled by the addition of actin monomers to the stereocilium tips, and that the entire core of the stereocilium is renewed every 48 hours. This unexpected dynamic feature of stereocilia will help our understanding of how auditory sensory function develops and is maintained.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).