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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Isolation and Culture of Primary Cochlear Hair Cells from Neonatal Mice
Published on: September 15, 2023
Glucose transporter 5 is undetectable in outer hair cells and does not contribute to cochlear amplification
Xudong Wu1, Xiang Wang, Jiangang Gao
1Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
Abstract:
Glucose transporter 5 (Glut5) is a high-affinity fructose transporter. It was proposed to be a motor protein or part of the motor complex required for cochlear amplification in outer hair cells (OHCs). Here we show that, in contrast to previous reports, Glut5 is undetectable, and possibly absent, in OHCs harvested from wildtype mice. Further, Glut5-deficient mice display normal OHC morphology and motor function (i.e., nonlinear capacitance and electromotility) and normal cochlear sensitivity and frequency selectivity. We conclude that Glut5 is not required for OHC motility or cochlear amplification.
Related Concept Videos
Glucose Transporters
Facilitated diffusion-glucose transporters (GLUTs) are encoded by the solute-linked carrier (SLC) family 2, subfamily A gene family, or SLC2A. The 14 GLUT protein members are distributed into three classes:
Secondary Active Transport
Secondary Active Transport
Membrane Proteins
Glucose Absorption Into the Small Intestine
Hair Cells

