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First published online September 29, 2004

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Hearing through tight junctions

The internal environment of multicellular organisms is split into specialized compartments containing different fluids. These compartments are surrounded by barriers made of epithelial cells, which are sealed together by tight junctions (TJs). On p. 5087, Shoichiro Tsukita and colleagues investigate how the establishment of the endolymph compartment of the mammalian cochlea is necessary for hearing. This compartment has a high K⁺ concentration and a positive endocochlear potential (EP). These characteristics, which are essential for transduction of acoustic signals to electrical signals by the cochlear hair cells, are thought to be generated by the stria vascularis, an adjacent compartment delineated by two epithelial cell layers. By making mice lacking claudin-11 - a major component of TJs in the basal cell layer of the stria vascularis - the authors show that, although an intact stria vascularis is not needed to maintain endolymph K⁺ concentrations, it is indispensable for the generation/maintenance of EP and thus for hearing.

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Related articles in JCS:

Compartmentalization established by claudin-11-based tight junctions in stria vascularis is required for hearing through generation of endocochlear potential

Shin-ichiro Kitajiri, Tatsuo Miyamoto, Akihito Mineharu, Noriyuki Sonoda, Kyoko Furuse, Masaki Hata, Hiroyuki Sasaki, Yoshiaki Mori, Takahiro Kubota, Juichi Ito, Mikio Furuse, and Shoichiro Tsukita
JCS 2004 117: 5087-5096. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?