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The Piezo channel is a mechano-sensitive complex component in the mammalian inner ear hair cell
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

The Piezo channel is a mechano-sensitive complex component in the mammalian inner ear hair cell

Jeong Han Lee, Maria C Perez-Flores, Seojin Park, Hyo Jeong Kim, Yingying Chen, Mincheol Kang, Jennifer Kersigo, Jinsil Choi, Phung N Thai, Ryan L Woltz, …
Nature communications, Vol.15(1), 526
01/16/2024
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44230-x
PMCID: PMC10791687
PMID: 38228630
url
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44230-xView
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

The inner ear is the hub where hair cells (HCs) transduce sound, gravity, and head acceleration stimuli to the brain. Hearing and balance rely on mechanosensation, the fastest sensory signals transmitted to the brain. The mechanoelectrical transducer (MET) channel is the entryway for the sound-balance-brain interface, but the channel-complex composition is not entirely known. Here, we report that the mouse utilizes Piezo1 (Pz1) and Piezo2 (Pz2) isoforms as MET-complex components. The Pz channels, expressed in HC stereocilia, and cell lines are co-localized and co-assembled with MET complex partners. Mice expressing non-functional Pz1 and Pz2 at the ROSA26 locus have impaired auditory and vestibular traits that can only be explained if the Pzs are integral to the MET complex. We suggest that Pz subunits constitute part of the MET complex and that interactions with other MET complex components yield functional MET units to generate HC MET currents.
Animals Ear, Inner - metabolism Hair Cells, Auditory - metabolism Hair Cells, Auditory, Inner - metabolism Hearing Ion Channels - genetics Ion Channels - metabolism Mammals - metabolism Mechanotransduction, Cellular Mice Stereocilia - metabolism

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