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Updated: May 24, 2026

Dextran Labeling and Uptake in Live and Functional Murine Cochlear Hair Cells
Published on: February 8, 2020
Hair cells, plasma membrane Ca²⁺ ATPase and deafness
Marta Giacomello1, Agnese De Mario, Simona Primerano
1Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, Via G. Orus, 2, 35129 Padua, Italy.
Abstract:
Hearing relies on the ability of the inner ear to convert sound waves into electrical signals. The main actors in this process are hair cells. Their stereocilia contain a number of specific proteins and a scaffold of actin molecules. They are organized in bundles by tip-link filaments composed of cadherin 23 and protocadherin 15. The bundle is deflected by sound waves leading to the opening of mechano-transduction channels and to the influx of K(+) and Ca(2+) into the stereocilia. Cadherin 23 and the plasma membrane calcium ATPase isoform 2 (PMCA2) are defective in human and murine cases of deafness. While the involvement of cadherin 23 in deafness/hearing could be expected due to its structural role in the tip-links, that of PMCA2 has been discovered only recently. This review will summarize the structural and functional characteristics of hair cells, focusing on the proteins whose mutations may lead to a deafness phenotype.
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