Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Intracellular electric responses to sound in a vertebrate cochlea

Abstract

ELECTRIC potentials generated by the inner ear in response to sound stimulation were first recorded 40 yr ago1. Studies of these extracellular potentials have led to hypotheses about the role of intracellular potentials in sensory transduction in receptor (hair) cells2,3. It is difficult, however, to infer these intracellular potentials from extracellular measurements alone4–7; measurements of intracellular potentials from hair cells are clearly desirable. Although intracellular potentials in other hair-cell receptors have been reported recently8,9, the few previous attempts to record such potentials in the cochlea have not yielded significant results10. We report here intracellular responses from single hair cells and supporting cells in the cochlea of the alligator lizard Gerrhonotus multicarinatus.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wever, E. G., and Bray, C. W., Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 16, 344 (1930).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Davis, H., Physiol. Rev., 37, 1 (1957).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Flock, Å., in Handbook of sensory physiology, 1 (edit. by Loewenstein, W. R.), 396 (Springer, New York, 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Békésy, G., J. acoust. Soc. Am., 23, 18 (1951).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Whitfield, I. C., and Ross, H. F., J. acoust. Soc. Am., 38, 126 (1965).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kohllöffel, L. U. E., Acta otolaryngol., Suppl., 288 (1971).

  7. Weiss, T. F., Peake, W. T., and Sohmer, H. S., J. acoust. Soc. Am., 50, 602 (1971).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Harris, G. G., Frishkopf, L. S., and Flock, Å., Science, 167, 76 (1970).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Flock, Å., Jørgensen, M., and Russell, I. J., in Basic mechanisms in hearing (edit. by Møller, A. R.), 273 (Academic Press, New York, 1973).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  10. Fex, J., in Handbook of sensory physiology (edit. by Keidel, W. D., and Neff, W. D.), 5 (Springer, New York, in the press).

  11. Retzius, G., Das gehörorgan de wirbelthiere, 2 (Samson and Wallin, Stockholm, 1884).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Romer, A. S., The vertebrate body, 525 (Saunders, Philadelphia and London, 1946).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Baird, I., in Biology of the reptilia (edit. by Gans, C., and Parsons, T. S.), 2, 193 (Academic Press, New York, 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Shute, C. C. D., and Bellairs, A. d'A., Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., 123, 695 (1953).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Gilad, P., Shtrikman, S., Hillman, P., Rubinstein, M., and Eviatar, A., J. acoust. Soc. Am., 41, 1232 (1967).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Potter, D. D., Furshpan, E. J., and Lennox, E. S., Proc natn Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 55, 328 (1966).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Stretton, A. O. W., and Kravitz, E. A., Science, 162, 132 (1968).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Dallos, P., The auditory periphery (Academic Press, New York, 1973).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Weiss, T. F., Mulroy, M. J., and Altmann, D. W., J. acoust. Soc. Am., 55, 606 (1974).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Liley, A. W., J. Physiol., 134, 427 (1956).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Katz, B., Proc. R. Soc., B 155, 455 (1962).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Tasaki, I., J. Neurophysiol., 17, 97 (1954).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Kiang, N. Y. S., Watanabe, T., Thomas, E. C., and Clark, L. F., Discharge patterns of single fibres in the cat's auditory nerve (MIT Press, Cambridge, 1965).

    Google Scholar 

  24. Wever, E. G., J. aud. Res., 5, 331 (1965).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Wever, E. G., J. aud. Res., 11, 160 (1971).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Mulroy, M. J., Dissertation, Univ. California, San Francisco 1968.

  27. Sohmer, H. S., Peake, W. T., and Weiss, T. F., J. acoust. Soc. Am., 50, 572 (1971).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

MULROY, M., ALTMANN, D., WEISS, T. et al. Intracellular electric responses to sound in a vertebrate cochlea. Nature 249, 482–485 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/249482a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/249482a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing