Abstract
Outer-hair-cell stereocilia tip-link structure in the chinchilla cochlea was studied by transmission electron microscopy using tannic acid and Ruthenium red/Alcian blue histochemical procedures. Tannic acid and Ruthenium red/Alcian blue treatments showed the tip link as a compact strand of filaments 9-12 nm thick. Fourier analysis of tip-link images showed that the strand is a three-start helical bundle of fine, coiled filaments which had an axial period of 22.5 ± 1.5 nm. Each of three coiled filaments in the strand showed globular structures, 4.3 ± 0.3 nm in diameter. The globular structures may correspond to individual protein subunits or they may be repeating identical domains of one polypeptide. The three filaments of the helical array may provide a rigidity to the tip link during stereocilia deflections. Alternatively, changes in the subunit or domain structure of each filament may result in a lengthening or shortening of the tip-link strand.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 224-231 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | JARO - Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2000 |
Keywords
- Helical structure
- Image analysis
- Stereocilia
- Tip link
- Transmission electron microscopy