Meeting Abstract
Sensory hair cells are responsible for transduction of mechanical stimuli (fluid pressure, fluid movement) in the vestibular, auditory, and lateral line systems of vertebrates. No homologous sensory cells have been identified outside the chordate lineage, making the presence of hair cells almost as diagnostic as the presence of a notochord, pharyngeal slits, or a dorsal, hollow nerve cord. Vertebrate hair cells have a number of specialized physiological qualities, compared to other sensory cells. Transduction occurs by lateral displacement of a group of linked stereocilia, and in some systems the stereocilia are themselves motile. In some other systems, the hair cells are capable of rapid shortening by a process that does not involve actin-myosin interaction. The hair cell-containing sensory organs develop from placodes, and molecular techniques have led to identification of a number of the cellular signals and transcription factors that influence the development of hair cells and which may provide clues about their evolution. The goal of this talk is to provide an overview of hair cell biology for non-specialists.
