ArticlePloS one2009
Hair cell bundles: flexoelectric motors of the inner ear.
Article in PloS one, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 84 citations in OpenAlex.
- Flexo-Pyroelectric Effect.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Article
- Flexoelectricity in Biological Materials and Its Potential Applications in Biomedical Research.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The giant flexoelectric effect in a luffa plant-based sponge for green devices and energy harvesters.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- A minimal physics-based model for musical perception.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Flexoelectricity in soft elastomers and the molecular mechanisms underpinning the design and emergence of giant flexoelectricity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- Semicircular canal biomechanics in health and disease.Journal of neurophysiology · 2019Review
- Enhanced flexoelectricity at reduced dimensions revealed by mechanically tunable quantum tunnelling.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Enabling nanoscale flexoelectricity at extreme temperature by tuning cation diffusion.Nature communications · 2018Article
- Lipid bilayer mediates ion-channel cooperativity in a model of hair-cell mechanotransduction.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2017Article
- Unconventional mechanics of lipid membranes: a potential role for mechanotransduction of hair cell stereocilia.Biophysical journal · 2015Article
- Selective attention reduces physiological noise in the external ear canals of humans. I: auditory attention.Hearing research · 2014Article
- Adaptation of mammalian auditory hair cell mechanotransduction is independent of calcium entry.Neuron · 2013Article
- Electrokinetic properties of the mammalian tectorial membrane.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2013Article
- Piezoelectric nanoribbons for monitoring cellular deformations.Nature nanotechnology · 2012Article
- Normal hearing sensitivity at low-to-middle frequencies with 34% prestin-charge density.PloS one · 2012Article
- Efferent modulation of hair cell function.Current opinion in otolaryngology & head and neck surgery · 2011Review
- Feed-forward and feed-backward amplification model from cochlear cytoarchitecture: an interspecies comparison.Biophysical journal · 2011Article
- Cell membrane tethers generate mechanical force in response to electrical stimulation.Biophysical journal · 2010Article
- The remarkable cochlear amplifier.Hearing research · 2010Article
- Mechanical amplification by hair cells in the semicircular canals.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2010Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Microvilli (stereocilia) projecting from the apex of hair cells in the inner ear are actively motile structures that feed energy into the vibration of the inner ear and enhance sensitivity to sound. The biophysical mechanism underlying the hair bundle motor is unknown. In this study, we examined a membrane flexoelectric origin for active movements in stereocilia and conclude that it is likely to be an important contributor to mechanical power output by hair bundles. We formulated a realistic biophysical model of stereocilia incorporating stereocilia dimensions, the known flexoelectric coefficient of lipid membranes, mechanical compliance, and fluid drag. Electrical power enters the stereocilia through displacement sensitive ion channels and, due to the small diameter of stereocilia, is converted to useful mechanical power output by flexoelectricity. This motor augments molecular motors associated with the mechanosensitive apparatus itself that have been described previously. The model reveals stereocilia to be highly efficient and fast flexoelectric motors that capture the energy in the extracellular electro-chemical potential of the inner ear to generate mechanical power output. The power analysis provides an explanation for the correlation between stereocilia height and the tonotopic organization of hearing organs. Further, results suggest that flexoelectricity may be essential to the exquisite sensitivity and frequency selectivity of non-mammalian hearing organs at high auditory frequencies, and may contribute to the "cochlear amplifier" in mammals.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.