Anthony W. Peng

Mechanosensitive Hair Cell-like Cells from Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Mechanosensitive sensory hair cells are the linchpin of our senses of hearing and balance. The inability of the mammalian inner ear to regenerate lost hair cells is the major reason for the permanence of hearing loss and certain balance disorders. Here, we present a stepwise guidance protocol starting with mouse embryonic stem and induced pluripotent stem cells, which were directed toward becoming ectoderm capable of responding to otic-inducing growth factors. The resulting otic progenitor cells were subjected to varying differentiation conditions, one of which promoted the organization of the cells into epithelial clusters displaying hair cell-like cells with stereociliary bundles. Bundle-bearing cells in these clusters responded to mechanical stimulation with currents that were reminiscent of immature hair cell transduction currents.

Twinfilin 2 Regulates Actin Filament Lengths in Cochlear Stereocilia

Inner ear sensory hair cells convert mechanical stimuli into electrical signals. This conversion happens in the exquisitely mechanosensitive hair bundle that protrudes from the cells apical surface. In mammals, cochlear hair bundles are composed of 50–100 actin-filled stereocilia, which are organized in three rows in a staircase manner. Stereocilia actin filaments are uniformly oriented with their barbed ends toward stereocilia tips. During development, the actin core of each stereocilium undergoes elongation due to addition of actin monomers to the barbed ends of the filaments. Here we show that in the mouse cochlea the barbed end capping protein twinfilin 2 is present at the tips of middle and short rows of stereocilia from postnatal day 5 (P5) onward, which correlates with a time period when these rows stop growing. The tall stereocilia rows, which do not display twinfilin 2 at their tips, continue to elongate between P5 and P15. When we expressed twinfilin 2 in LLC/PK1-CL4 (CL4) cells, we observed a reduction of espin-induced microvilli length, pointing to a potent function of twinfilin 2 in suppressing the elongation of actin filaments. Overexpression of twinfilin 2 in cochlear inner hair cells resulted in a significant reduction of stereocilia length. Our results suggest that twinfilin 2 plays a role in the regulation of stereocilia elongation by restricting excessive elongation of the shorter row stereocilia thereby maintaining the mature staircase architecture of cochlear hair bundles.

Adaptation of Mammalian Auditory Hair Cell Mechanotransduction Is Independent of Calcium Entry

Adaptation is a hallmark of hair cell mechanotransduction, extending the sensory hair bundle dynamic range while providing mechanical filtering of incoming sound. In hair cells responsive to low frequencies, two distinct adaptation mechanisms exist, a fast component of debatable origin and a slow myosin-based component. It is generally believed that Ca(2+) entry through mechano-electric transducer channels is required for both forms of adaptation. This study investigates the calcium dependence of adaptation in the mammalian auditory system. Recordings from rat cochlear hair cells demonstrate that altering Ca(2+) entry or internal Ca(2+) buffering has little effect on either adaptation kinetics or steady-state adaptation responses. Two additional findings include a voltage-dependent process and an extracellular Ca(2+) binding site, both modulating the resting open probability independent of adaptation. These data suggest that slow motor adaptation is negligible in mammalian auditory cells and that the remaining adaptation process is independent of calcium entry.

Integrating the biophysical and molecular mechanisms of auditory hair cell mechanotransduction

Mechanosensation is a primitive and somewhat ubiquitous sense. At the inner ear, sensory hair cells are refined to enhance sensitivity, dynamic range and frequency selectivity. Thirty years ago, mechanisms of mechanotransduction and adaptation were well accounted for by simple mechanical models that incorporated physiological and morphological properties of hair cells. Molecular and genetic tools, coupled with new optical techniques, are now identifying and localizing specific components of the mechanotransduction machinery. These new findings challenge long-standing theories, and require modification of old and development of new models. Future advances require the integration of molecular and physiological data to causally test these new hypotheses.

MAGI-1, A Candidate Stereociliary Scaffolding Protein, Associates with the Tip-Link Component Cadherin 23

Inner ear hair-cell mechanoelectrical transduction is mediated by a largely unidentified multiprotein complex associated with the stereociliary tips of hair bundles. One identified component of tip links, which are the extracellular filamentous connectors implicated in gating the mechanoelectrical transduction channels, is the transmembrane protein cadherin 23 (Cdh23), more specifically, the hair- cell-specific Cdh23(+68) splice variant. Using the intracellular domain of Cdh23(+68) as bait, we identified in a cochlear cDNA library MAGI-1, a MAGUK (membrane-associated guanylate kinase) protein. MAGI-1 binds via its PDZ4 domain to a C-terminal PDZ-binding site on Cdh23. MAGI-1 immunoreactivity was detectable throughout neonatal stereocilia in a distribution similar to that of Cdh23. As development proceeded, MAGI-1 occurred in a punctate staining pattern on stereocilia, which was maintained into adulthood. Previous reports suggest that Cdh23 interacts via an internal PDZ-binding site with the PDZ1 domain of the stereociliary protein harmonin, and potentially via a weaker binding of its C terminus with harmonins PDZ2 domain. We propose that MAGI-1 has the ability to replace harmonins PDZ2 binding at Cdh23s C terminus. Moreover, the strong interaction between PDZ1 of harmonin and Cdh23 is interrupted by a 35 aa insertion in the hair-cell-specific Cdh23(+68) splice variant, which puts forward MAGI-1 as an attractive candidate for an intracellular scaffolding partner of this tip-link protein. Our results consequently support a role of MAGI-1 in the tip-link complex, where it could provide a sturdy connection with the cytoskeleton and with other components of the mechanoelectrical transduction complex.

Faster than the speed of hearing: nanomechanical force probes enable the electromechanical observation of cochlear hair cells.

Understanding the mechanisms responsible for our sense of hearing requires new tools for unprecedented stimulation and monitoring of sensory cell mechanotransduction at frequencies yet to be explored. We describe nanomechanical force probes designed to evoke mechanotransduction currents at up to 100 kHz in living cells. High-speed force and displacement metrology is enabled by integrating piezoresistive sensors and piezoelectric actuators onto nanoscale cantilevers. The design, fabrication process, actuator performance, and actuator-sensor crosstalk compensation results are presented. We demonstrate the measurement of mammalian cochlear hair cell mechanotransduction with simultaneous patch clamp recordings at unprecedented speeds. The probes can deliver mechanical stimuli with sub-10 μs rise times in water and are compatible with standard upright and inverted microscopes.

Somatic motility and hair bundle mechanics, are both necessary for cochlear amplification?

Hearing organs have evolved to detect sounds across several orders of magnitude of both intensity and frequency. Detection limits are at the atomic level despite the energy associated with sound being limited thermodynamically. Several mechanisms have evolved to account for the remarkable frequency selectivity, dynamic range, and sensitivity of these various hearing organs, together termed the active process or cochlear amplifier. Similarities between hearing organs of disparate species provides insight into the factors driving the development of the cochlear amplifier. These properties include: a tonotopic map, the emergence of a two hair cell system, the separation of efferent and afferent innervations, the role of the tectorial membrane, and the shift from intrinsic tuning and amplification to a more end organ driven process. Two major contributors to the active process are hair bundle mechanics and outer hair cell electromotility, the former present in all hair cell organs tested, the latter only present in mammalian cochlear outer hair cells. Both of these processes have advantages and disadvantages, and how these processes interact to generate the active process in the mammalian system is highly disputed. A hypothesis is put forth suggesting that hair bundle mechanics provides amplification and filtering in most hair cells, while in mammalian cochlea, outer hair cell motility provides the amplification on a cycle by cycle basis driven by the hair bundle that provides frequency selectivity (in concert with the tectorial membrane) and compressive nonlinearity. Separating components of the active process may provide additional sites for regulation of this process.

Underestimated Sensitivity of Mammalian Cochlear Hair Cells Due to Splay between Stereociliary Columns

Current-displacement (I-X) and the force-displacement (F-X) relationships characterize hair-cell mechano-transduction in the inner ear. A common technique for measuring these relationships is to deliver mechanical stimulations to individual hair bundles with microprobes and measure whole cell transduction currents through patch pipette electrodes at the basolateral membrane. The sensitivity of hair-cell mechano-transduction is determined by two fundamental biophysical properties of the mechano-transduction channel, the stiffness of the putative gating spring and the gating swing, which are derived from the I-X and F-X relationships. Although the hair-cell stereocilia in vivo deflect <100 nm even at high sound pressure levels, often it takes >500 nm of stereocilia displacement to saturate hair-cell mechano-transduction in experiments with individual hair cells in vitro. Despite such discrepancy between in vivo and in vitro data, key biophysical properties of hair-cell mechano-transduction to define the transduction sensitivity have been estimated from in vitro experiments. Using three-dimensional finite-element methods, we modeled an inner hair-cell and an outer hair-cell stereocilia bundle and simulated the effect of probe stimulation. Unlike the natural situation where the tectorial membrane stimulates hair-cell stereocilia evenly, probes deflect stereocilia unevenly. Because of uneven stimulation, 1) the operating range (the 10–90% width of the I-X relationship) increases by a factor of 2–8 depending on probe shapes, 2) the I-X relationship changes from a symmetric to an asymmetric function, and 3) the bundle stiffness is underestimated. Our results indicate that the generally accepted assumption of parallel stimulation leads to an overestimation of the gating swing and underestimation of the gating spring stiffness by an order of magnitude.

Adaptation Independent Modulation of Auditory Hair Cell Mechanotransduction Channel Open Probability Implicates a Role for the Lipid Bilayer

The auditory system is able to detect movement down to atomic dimensions. This sensitivity comes in part from mechanisms associated with gating of hair cell mechanoelectric transduction (MET) channels. MET channels, located at the tops of stereocilia, are poised to detect tension induced by hair bundle deflection. Hair bundle deflection generates a force by pulling on tip-link proteins connecting adjacent stereocilia. The resting open probability (Popen) of MET channels determines the linearity and sensitivity to mechanical stimulation. Classically, Popen is regulated by a calcium-sensitive adaptation mechanism in which lowering extracellular calcium or depolarization increases Popen. Recent data demonstrated that the fast component of adaptation is independent of both calcium and voltage, thus requiring an alternative explanation for the sensitivity of Popen to calcium and voltage. Using rat auditory hair cells, we characterize a mechanism, separate from fast adaptation, whereby divalent ions interacting with the local lipid environment modulate resting Popen. The specificity of this effect for different divalent ions suggests binding sites that are not an EF-hand or calmodulin model. GsMTx4, a lipid-mediated modifier of cationic stretch-activated channels, eliminated the voltage and divalent sensitivity with minimal effects on adaptation. We hypothesize that the dual mechanisms (lipid modulation and adaptation) extend the dynamic range of the system while maintaining adaptation kinetics at their maximal rates. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Classically, changes in extracellular calcium and voltage affect open probability (Popen) through mechanoelectric transduction adaptation, and this mechanism is the only means of controlling the set point of the channel. Here, we further characterize the effects of extracellular calcium and voltage on the channel and for the first time determine that these manipulations occur through a mechanism that is independent of fast adaptation and involves the lipid bilayer. These data additionally demonstrate that effects on Popen are not enough to characterize adaptation and thus may clarify some of the discrepancies within the literature as to mechanisms underlying adaptation.

Swept field laser confocal microscopy for enhanced spatial and temporal resolution in live-cell imaging.

Confocal fluorescence microscopy is a broadly used imaging technique that enhances the signal-to-noise ratio by removing out of focal plane fluorescence. Confocal microscopes come with a variety of modifications depending on the particular experimental goals. Microscopes, illumination pathways, and light collection were originally focused upon obtaining the highest resolution image possible, typically on fixed tissue. More recently, live-cell confocal imaging has gained importance. Since measured signals are often rapid or transient, thus requiring higher sampling rates, specializations are included to enhance spatial and temporal resolution while maintaining tissue viability. Thus, a balance between image quality, temporal resolution, and tissue viability is needed. A subtype of confocal imaging, termed swept field confocal (SFC) microscopy, can image live cells at high rates while maintaining confocality. SFC systems can use a pinhole array to obtain high spatial resolution, similar to spinning disc systems. In addition, SFC imaging can achieve faster rates by using a slit to sweep the light across the entire image plane, thus requiring a single scan to generate an image. Coupled to a high-speed charge-coupled device camera and a laser illumination source, images can be obtained at greater than 1,000 frames per second while maintaining confocality.