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Updated: Feb 9, 2026

Stereocilia Bundle Imaging with Nanoscale Resolution in Live Mammalian Auditory Hair Cells
Published on: January 21, 2021
Molecular Composition of Vestibular Hair Bundles
Jocelyn F Krey1, Peter G Barr-Gillespie1
1Oregon Hearing Research Center and Vollum Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon 97239.
Abstract:
The vertebrate hair bundle, responsible for transduction of mechanical signals into receptor potentials in sensory hair cells, is an evolutionary masterpiece. Composed of actin-filled stereocilia of precisely regulated length, width, and number, the structure of the hair bundle is optimized for sensing auditory and vestibular stimuli. Recent developments in identifying the lipids and proteins constituting the hair bundle, obtained through genetics, biochemistry, and imaging, now permit a description of the consensus composition of vestibular bundles of mouse, rat, and chick.
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