抄録
In the inner ear, hair cells detect not only sounds but also acceleration with their mechanotransduction apparatus. In this study, I demonstrate that transduction and adaptation require phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) for normal kinetics. PIP2 has a striking distribution in hair cells, being excluded from the basal region of hair bundles and apical surfaces of bullfrog saccular hair cells. The depletion of PIP2 by the inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase or sequestration by an aminoglycoside reduces the rate of fast and slow adaptation, and also causes a loss in transduction currents, suggesting that PIP2 plays an essential role in hair cell adaptation and transduction.
