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Cupula displacement, hair bundle deflection, and physiological responses in the transparent semicircular canal of young eel

  • Excitable Tissues and Central Nervous Physiology
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Abstract

The transparent labyrinth of young eels (Anguilla anguilla L.) was used in toto for studying the configuration of cupula displacement, deflection of the hair bundle, and correlated changes in transepithelial voltage (ΔTEV) and nerve activity (ΔNA) in the semicircular canal. Microcapillaries were introduced into the canal through holes produced by a microthermocauter. Mechanical stimulation was applied either by injection of fluid into the ampulla or by electromagnetically displacing ferrofluid as a piston within the canal. Motion of individual kinocilia, stained cupulae or the ferrofluid piston was analysed by double-exposed microphotographs, photodiodes, or a video-system. The three-dimensional cupula displacement configuration was found to be piston-to diaphragm-like. Hair bundles at different sites on the crista exhibit differences in amplitude and time course of deflection. The transfer factor between shifts of the canal fluid and the tips of the kinocilia is 0.4–0.6. Displacements in opposite directions induce ΔTEV and ΔNA of opposite sign. Various tests confirmed ΔTEV to reflect receptor potential responses. Nerve activity adapts to a tonic response with a time constant of 6.4s. No similar adaptation occurred in ΔTEV. Stimulus-response curves of TEV- and NA-responses are similar and signoid in shape with saturation at ciliary deflections of roughly + 6° and −3°.

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  1. Lehrstuhl für Neurophysiologie, Zoologisches Institut der Universität Münster, Hüfferstrasse 1, D-4400, Münster, Federal Republic of Germany

    Alfons Rüsch & Ulrich Thurm

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  1. Alfons Rüsch
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  2. Ulrich Thurm
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Rüsch, A., Thurm, U. Cupula displacement, hair bundle deflection, and physiological responses in the transparent semicircular canal of young eel. Pflugers Arch. 413, 533–545 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00594186

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00594186

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