Organisms must respond appropriately to relevant mechanical stimuli and be structurally and functionally resistive to mechanical perturbations. In animals, excitable cell types detect mechanical stimuli and orchestrate the coordinated movement of contractile organ systems. Hearing, balance, touch and mechanical pain depend on specialized sensory cells, whereas the heart, the gut and skeletal muscles, for example, all contain networks of neurons and muscle cells that generate and respond to movement.Central to the physiology of mechano-sensory cells are effects of mechanical stimuli on membrane ion channels, including the voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) that are fundamental to action potential generation.
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