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Transfer Properties Of The Hair Cell-Afferent Fiber Synapse, Erica C. Keen

Student Theses and Dissertations

The perception of sound is initiated in the inner ear by the conversion of vibrational energy into a neural code, a transduction process achieved by the chemical synapses of hair cells in the auditory periphery. Thus, the operation of the hair cell’s presynaptic active zone is key to understanding auditory transduction. However, the lack of suitable experimental systems in which to investigate both the presynaptic and postsynaptic aspects of this synapse with high resolution has limited our understanding of its functional characteristics. This work describes the development of a novel in vitro preparation of the amphibian papilla from Rana catesbeiana …