Imperial College London
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Prof. Dr. Tobias Reichenbach

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Bioengineering

Visiting Professor
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 6370reichenbach Website

 
 
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Location

 

4.12Royal School of MinesSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Ciganovic:2017:10.1038/s41598-017-03773-y,
author = {Ciganovic, N and Wolde-Kidan, A and Reichenbach, JDT},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-017-03773-y},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
title = {Hair bundles of cochlear outer hair cells are shaped to minimize their fluid-dynamic resistance},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03773-y},
volume = {7},
year = {2017}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The mammalian sense of hearing relies on two types of sensory cells: inner hair cells transmit the auditory stimulus to the brain, while outer hair cells mechanically modulate the stimulus through active feedback. Stimulation of a hair cell is mediated by displacements of its mechanosensitive hair bundle which protrudes from the apical surface of the cell into a narrow fluid-filled space between reticular lamina and tectorial membrane. While hair bundles of inner hair cells are of linear shape, those of outer hair cells exhibit a distinctive V-shape. The biophysical rationale behind this morphology, however, remains unknown. Here we use analytical and computational methods to study the fluid flow across rows of differently shaped hair bundles. We find that rows of V-shaped hair bundles have a considerably reduced resistance to crossflow, and that the biologically observed shapes of hair bundles of outer hair cells are near-optimal in this regard. This observation accords with the function of outer hair cells and lends support to the recent hypothesis that inner hair cells are stimulated by a net flow, in addition to the well-established shear flow that arises from shearing between the reticular lamina and the tectorial membrane.
AU  - Ciganovic,N
AU  - Wolde-Kidan,A
AU  - Reichenbach,JDT
DO  - 10.1038/s41598-017-03773-y
PY  - 2017///
SN  - 2045-2322
TI  - Hair bundles of cochlear outer hair cells are shaped to minimize their fluid-dynamic resistance
T2  - Scientific Reports
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03773-y
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/48447
VL  - 7
ER  -
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