Deans Lab

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NIH R01 · 2024

Planar Polarity Mechanisms in Mammalian Inner Ear Development

Project Summary: In the vestibular system of the inner ear, motion is detected via the mechanical deflection of a bundle of stereocilia located at the top of sensory receptor hair cells. The bundle is morphologically and physiologically polarized because only movements of the bundle towards a lone kinocilium positioned at one side of the apical cell surface are able to produce excitatory responses to acceleration or gravity. Thus, the range of motion that can be detected by an individual hair cell is determined by the polarized orientation of the stereociliary bundle. The utricle and saccule contain thousands of vestibular hair cells that detect linear accelerations which are divided…

From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.