Cooperative interaction as the physical basis of the negative stiffness in hair cell stereocilia

A recent report confirmed that stiffness of the stereocilia can be negative, as predicted by the Howard-Hudspeth model. According to this model, the mechanotransducer channel's gating not only reduces the stereociliary stiffness, but can alter its sign as well. The basic assumptions of this model do not include cooperativity in channel gating. Here we consider two possible explanations for the observed negative stiffness. If the stereocilia have a special structure so that microscopic displacement can be imposed on each channel by controlling the bending of the bundle, negative stiffness can occur without channel cooperativity. If such a microscopic condition cannot be imposed by a macroscopic manipulation, an additional physical process, such as cooperativity in channel gating, is required to explain negative stiffness.