Nature Communications (Apr 2018)

Synaptically silent sensory hair cells in zebrafish are recruited after damage

  • Qiuxiang Zhang,
  • Suna Li,
  • Hiu-Tung C. Wong,
  • Xinyi J. He,
  • Alisha Beirl,
  • Ronald S. Petralia,
  • Ya-Xian Wang,
  • Katie S. Kindt

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03806-8
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 16

Abstract

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Hair cells of the inner ear are mechanosensors that detect sound, and synapse onto afferent neurons. Here, the authors used calcium imaging to find that not all hair cells are synaptically engaged, but after damage these silent cells are synaptically engaged.