The hydrodynamics of the extracisternal space of the cochlear outer hair cell wall.
J.T. Ratnanather, W. E. Brownell and A.S. Popel
Presented as A micro-fluidic analysis of the lateral wall of the cochlear outer hair cell. at Michigan Interdisciplinary Mathematics Meeting I: Modeling and Analysis in Medicine and Biology hosted by Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, August 6-8, 1998.
Summary
The cylindrically shaped cochlear outer hair cell plays an important role in the
processing of sound in the cochlea. Within the lateral wall is the extracisternal
space (ECiS) which is a fluid-filled space bounded by the plasma membrane (PM) and
the intracellular subsurface cisterna (SSC). We have previously obtained an estimate
of the OHC hydraulic conductvity, P_f = 3x10-4 cm/s, which is very low compared to
other animal and biological cells. Further, P_f remains unaltered by salicylate,
which is a by-product of aspirin and is also responsible for temporary hearing loss
by causing the SSC to dilate and vesiculate. We use a Brinkman-Stokes analysis of the
ECiS to show that the ECiS hydraulic conductivity is several orders of magnitude
larger than that of the PM thus accounting for the low hydraulic conductivity of the
OHC lateral wall.