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The Role of the Mechanotransduction Ion Channel Candidate Nanchung-Inactive in Auditory Transduction in an Insect Ear
- Source :
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Society for Neuroscience, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Insect auditory receivers provide an excellent comparative resource to understand general principles of auditory transduction, but analysis of the electrophysiological properties of the auditory neurons has been hampered by their tiny size and inaccessibility. Here we pioneer patch-clamp recordings from the auditory neurons of Müller's organ of the desert locustSchistocerca gregariato characterize dendritic spikes, axonal spikes, and the transduction current. We demonstrate that dendritic spikes, elicited by sound stimuli, trigger axonal spikes, and that both types are sodium and voltage dependent and blocked by TTX. Spontaneous discrete depolarizations summate upon acoustic stimulation to produce a graded transduction potential that in turn elicits the dendritic spikes. The transduction current of Group III neurons of Müller's organ, which are broadly tuned to 3 kHz, is blocked by three ion channel blockers (FM1-43, streptomycin, and 2-APB) that are known to block mechanotransduction channels. We investigated the contribution of the candidate mechanotransduction ion channel Nanchung-Inactive—which is expressed in Müller's organ—to the transduction current. A specific agonist of Nanchung-Inactive, pymetrozine, eliminates the sound-evoked transduction current while inducing a tonic depolarizing current of comparable amplitude. The Nanchung-Inactive ion channels, therefore, have the required conductance to carry the entire transduction current, and sound stimulation appears not to open any additional channels. The application of three mechanotransduction ion channel blockers prevented the pymetrozine-induced depolarizing current. This implies that either Nanchung-Inactive is, or forms part of, the mechanotransduction ion channel or it amplifies a relatively small current (SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe mechanically activated ion channel underpinning hearing is not known. We have pioneered intracellular patch-clamp recordings from locust auditory neurons to unravel the role of the candidate mechanotransduction ion channel Nanchung-Inactive in auditory transduction in insects.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
desert locust
Stimulation
Grasshoppers
receptor current
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Transient Receptor Potential Channels
Hearing
Animals
Mechanotransduction
mechanotransduction ion channel
Ion channel
Research Articles
biology
Chemistry
General Neuroscience
Depolarization
auditory transduction
Dendrites
Synaptic Potentials
biology.organism_classification
chordotonal organ
Chordotonal organ
Electrophysiology
030104 developmental biology
Insect Proteins
Transduction (physiology)
Neuroscience
Mechanoreceptors
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Locust
Cellular/Molecular
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 15292401 and 02706474
- Volume :
- 38
- Issue :
- 15
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....99b9c420617036265675be2453cf9265