ArticleMRS bulletin2009
Membrane Electromechanics in Biology, with a Focus on Hearing.
Article in MRS bulletin, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Flexoelectricity and the fluctuations of (active) living cells: Implications for energy harvesting, ion transport, and neuronal activity.PNAS nexus · 2025Article
- Flexoelectricity in Biological Materials and Its Potential Applications in Biomedical Research.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- On the Coupling between Mechanical Properties and Electrostatics in Biological Membranes.Membranes · 2021Review
- Mapping intrinsic electromechanical responses at the nanoscale via sequential excitation scanning probe microscopy empowered by deep data.National science review · 2019Article
- Adaptation Independent Modulation of Auditory Hair Cell Mechanotransduction Channel Open Probability Implicates a Role for the Lipid Bilayer.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2016Article
- Mechanical transduction by ion channels: A cautionary tale.World journal of neurology · 2015Article
- Actuation of flexoelectric membranes in viscoelastic fluids with applications to outer hair cells.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2014Article
- Glucose suppresses biological ferroelectricity in aortic elastin.Physical review letters · 2013Article
- The capacitance and electromechanical coupling of lipid membranes close to transitions: the effect of electrostriction.Biophysical journal · 2012Article
- Electromechanical and elastic probing of bacteria in a cell culture medium.Nanotechnology · 2012Article
- Cell membrane tethers generate mechanical force in response to electrical stimulation.Biophysical journal · 2010Article
- The remarkable cochlear amplifier.Hearing research · 2010Article
- WITHDRAWN: Membrane-based amplification in hearing.Hearing research · 2009Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Cells are ion conductive gels surrounded by a ~5-nm-thick insulating membrane, and molecular ionic pumps in the membrane establish an internal potential of approximately -90 mV. This electrical energy store is used for high-speed communication in nerve and muscle and other cells. Nature also has used this electric field for high-speed motor activity, most notably in the ear, where transduction and detection can function as high as 120 kHz. In the ear, there are two sets of sensory cells: the "inner hair cells" that generate an electrical output to the nervous system and the more numerous "outer hair cells" that use electromotility to counteract viscosity and thus sharpen resonance to improve frequency resolution. Nature, in a remarkable exhibition of nanomechanics, has made out of soft, aqueous materials a microphone and high-speed decoder capable of functioning at 120 kHz, limited only by thermal noise. Both physics and biology are only now becoming aware of the material properties of biomembranes and their ability to perform work and sense the environment. We anticipate new examples of this biopiezoelectricity will be forthcoming.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.