Scientists reveal pivotal hearing structure

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Top: Scanning electron microscopy shows the stair-step pattern of stereocilia. Bottom: Fluorescence microscopy image shows the presence of CDH 23 (green) at the point where each short stereocilium (red) meets the side of its taller neighbor. Credit: ...
Top: Scanning electron microscopy shows the stair-step pattern of stereocilia. Bottom: Fluorescence microscopy image shows the presence of CDH 23 (green) at the point where each short stereocilium (red) meets the side of its taller neighbor. Credit: B. Kachar, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

In a study published in the September 6, 2007, issue of the journal Nature, researchers showed that two key proteins join together at the precise location where energy of motion is turned into electrical impulses. These proteins, cadherin 23 and protocadherin 15, are part of a complex of proteins called “tip links” that are on hair cells in the inner ear. The tip link is believed to have a central function in the conversion of physical cues into electrochemical signals.


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