Estimation of elastic characteristics of the auditory outer hair cell

摘要

The outer hair cell is a receptor cell located within the cochlea of the inner ear. It has a unique ability to change the length in response to the changes of the membrane potential which in turn follows the basilar membrane vibration (Brownell,1990). Through the length changes, the outer hair cell provides the basilar membrane with additional energy which may explain the sharp tuning of the mammalian ear. The elastic properties of the outer hair cell are important characteristics of the energy transmission provided by this cell. The outer hair cell is an elongated cylinder with a liquid core inside, and its wall is a composite with anisotropic in-plane properties. In actual conditions, the outer hair cell undergoes a combination of axial,bending, and twisting modes of loading, and a characterization of the cell wall bending stiffness is important as well as the in-plane parameters. In the present study, we obtain a set of equations based on an interpretation of several independentexperiments. As a result, we give estimates of Young's moduli, Poisson's ratios, and the bending stiffnesses of the anisotropic outer hair cell wall.