Fast adaptation and Ca2+ sensitivity of the mechanotransducer require myosin-XVa in inner but not outer cochlear hair cells

R Stepanyan, GI Frolenkov - Journal of Neuroscience, 2009 - Soc Neuroscience
R Stepanyan, GI Frolenkov
Journal of Neuroscience, 2009Soc Neuroscience
In inner ear hair cells, activation of mechanotransduction channels is followed by extremely
rapid deactivation that depends on the influx of Ca2+ through these channels. Although the
molecular mechanisms of this “fast” adaptation are largely unknown, the predominant
models assume Ca2+ sensitivity as an intrinsic property of yet unidentified
mechanotransduction channels. Here, we examined mechanotransduction in the hair cells
of young postnatal shaker 2 mice (Myo15 sh2/sh2). These mice have no functional myosin …
In inner ear hair cells, activation of mechanotransduction channels is followed by extremely rapid deactivation that depends on the influx of Ca2+ through these channels. Although the molecular mechanisms of this “fast” adaptation are largely unknown, the predominant models assume Ca2+ sensitivity as an intrinsic property of yet unidentified mechanotransduction channels. Here, we examined mechanotransduction in the hair cells of young postnatal shaker 2 mice (Myo15 sh2/sh2 ). These mice have no functional myosin-XVa, which is critical for normal growth of mechanosensory stereocilia of hair cells. Although stereocilia of both inner and outer hair cells of Myo15 sh2/sh2 mice lack myosin-XVa and are abnormally short, these cells have dramatically different hair bundle morphology. Myo15 sh2/sh2 outer hair cells retain a staircase arrangement of the abnormally short stereocilia and prominent tip links. Myo15 sh2/sh2 inner hair cells do not have obliquely oriented tip links, and their mechanosensitivity is mediated exclusively by “top-to-top” links between equally short stereocilia. In both inner and outer hair cells of Myo15 sh2/sh2 mice, we found mechanotransduction responses with a normal “wild-type” amplitude and speed of activation. Surprisingly, only outer hair cells exhibit fast adaptation and sensitivity to extracellular Ca2+. In Myo15 sh2/sh2 inner hair cells, fast adaptation is disrupted and the transduction current is insensitive to extracellular Ca2+. We conclude that the Ca2+ sensitivity of the mechanotransduction channels and the fast adaptation require a structural environment that is dependent on myosin-XVa and is disrupted in Myo15 sh2/sh2 inner hair cells, but not in Myo15 sh2/sh2 outer hair cells.
Soc Neuroscience