TITLE:
An Engineer’s View of Hair Cell Function: A Theory of Capacitive Transduction
AUTHORS:
Michelangelo Rossetto
KEYWORDS:
Hair Cell, Cilia, Transduction, Nernst
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Science,
Vol.7 No.3,
March
24,
2015
ABSTRACT: Using an engineering perspective which is looking at the hair cells cilia as a total entity interacting with its neighboring cilia along their entire length, a theory of capacitive transduction is developed. This larger scaled view of cilia interaction suggests that transduction may be achieved through a mechanically controlled variable capacitor in the cilia bundle. A brief review of some seldom considered facts about electrical capacitors supports the hypothesis presented. Experimental measurements of hair cell reversal potential and ionic conditions surrounding the cilia during transduction, long reported in the biophysical literature, also support a capacitive hypothesis of transduction.