Mechanosensory

Elgoyhen, A., Vetter, D., Katz, E. etal. Alpha 10 a determinant of nicotinic cholinergic receptor function in mammalian vestibular and cochlear mechanosensory hair cells. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 98,3501-3506, 2001. 

Melzig, J., Buchner, S., Wiebel, F. etal. Genetic depletion of histamine from the nervous system of Drosophila eliminates specific visual and mechanosensory behavior. /. Comp. Physiol. [A] 179 763-773,1996. 

Kernan, M., Cowan, D. and Zuker, C., Genetic dissection of mechanosensory transduction mechanoreception-defective mutations of Drosophila. Neuron 12 1195-1206,1994. 

Chung, Y. D., Zhu, J., Han, Y. and Kernan, M. J. nompA encodes a PNS-specific, ZP domain protein required to connect mechanosensory dendrites to sensory structures. Neuron 29 415-428,2001. 

Two questions arise from this result. Do lobsters use only chemical and not mechanosensory information, and why do lobsters not use ground reference and head up-current Since turbulent odor dispersal is based on water flow patterns, we must investigate the role of microflow patterns in plume orientation behavior. As for ground reference, we speculate that the flow patterns of the lobster s natural environment may be too complex to allow for efficient rheotactic behavior in odor source localization. This complexity is most likely caused by a mismatch between turbulent scales and animal body size and sampling scales. 

Axons of antennal ORCs project through the antennal nerve to enter the brain at the level of the ipsilateral antennal lobe (AL) of the deutocerebrum (52). ORC axons project from the flagellum to targets in the AL, but axons from antennal mechanosensory neurons bypass the AL and project instead to an "antennal mechanosensory and motor center" in the deutocerebrum posteroventral (with respect to the body axis of the animal) to the AL (52, 58, 64). In moths and certain other insect groups, sex-pheromonal information is processed in a prominent male-specific neuropil structure in each AL called the macroglomerular complex (MGC) (16, 52, 64, 65). 

D.R Corey et al. Vertebrate hearing mechanosensory channel. Nature 432 723-730, 2004. 

Assessment of Effects on the Mechanosensory System Lateral Line. 398... 

The mechanosensory systems of fish, including the lateral line, are closely related to the mammalian hearing system [12]. Besides possessing the typical vertebrate inner ear, fish possess the lateral line organs that contain sensory hair cells. These analogies are most relevant in toxicology and dmg discovery and evaluation, as some of the pharmaceuticals already detected in aquatic ecosystems as emerging pollutants affect the auditory function in humans. 

P americana is one of just a few species of insects in which both peripheral and central olfactory processing have been studied. In contrast to many short-lived lepidopterans, in which the male antenna is highly specialized for sex pheromone reception, the antennae of male cockroaches contain numerous food-responsive sensilla. In addition to olfactory sensilla, the antennae also house mechano-, hygro-and thermoreceptors, as well as contact chemoreceptors (Schaller, 1978 review Boeckh et al., 1984). Extensive ultrastructural and electrophysiological evidence has demonstrated that morphologically defined sensillum types house receptor cells of specific functional types (Sass, 1976, 1978, 1983 Schaller, 1978 Selzer, 1981, 1984 review Boeckh and Ernst, 1987). Boeckh and Ernst (1987) defined 25 types of cell according to their odor spectra, but of the 65 500 chemo- and mechanosensory sensilla on the antenna of adult male P. americana, an estimated 37 000 house cells that respond to periplanone-A and periplanone-B. 

Mechanoreception is the term used to describe the process that transmits the informational content of an extracellular mechanical stimulus to a receptor cell. Mechanotransduction is the term used to describe the process that transforms the mechanical stimulus content into an intra-cellular signal. The term mechanosensory is employed to mean both mechanoreception and mechanotransduction. Additional processes of inter-cellular transmission of transduced signals are required at tissue, organ and organismal structural levels. The mechanosensing process(es) of a cell enables it to sense the presence of, and to respond to, extrinsic physical loadings. This property is widespread in uni- and multicellular animals [54, 101, 53, 74, 73, 36] plants [201, 65] and bacteria [152], Tissue sensibility is a property of a connected set of cells and it is accomplished by the intracellular processes of mechanoreception and mechanotransduction. 

Cowin, S.C. and Weinbaum, S. (1998) Strain amplification in the bone mechanosensory system. American Journal of Medical Science 316 184-188... 

Cowin, S.C. and Moss, M. L. (2000) Mechanosensory mechanisms in bone. Textbook of Tissue Engineering, 2nd edition, Editors R. Lanza, R. Longer, and W. Chick 723-738, Academic Press, San Diego, California... 

The second Drosophila appendage that bears olfactory sensilla is the maxillary palp (henceforth simply called palp). The ca. 60 olfactory sensilla on the dorsal and lateral sides of the palp are sw sensilla of the B type. They are structurally similar to antennal TB sensilla and contain two ORNs. In addition to olfactory sensilla the palp also bears ca. 20 large mechanosensory bristles. 

Geiger B, Bershadsky A (2001) Assembly and mechanosensory function of focal contacts. Curr Opin Cell Biol 13 584-592... 

Martinac B. 3.5 Billion years of mechanosensory transduction structure and function of mechanosensitive channels in prokaryotes. Current Topics in Membranes, vol. 58. Owen P. Hamill, ed. 2007. Elsevier Inc., San Diego CA., pp. 25—57. 

Mechanosensory Channels Have Been Identified in Drosophila and Bacteria... 

Although the ion channel that functions in human hearing has not been identified, other mechanosensory channels in other organisms have been. Drosophila have sensory bristles used for detecting small air currents. These bristles respond to mechanical displacement in ways similar to those of hair cells displacement of a bristle in one direction leads to substantial transmembrane current. Strains of mutant fruit flies that show uncoordinated motion and clumsiness have been examined for their electrophysiological responses to displacement of the sensory bristles. In one set of strains, transmembrane currents were dramatically reduced. The mutated gene in these strains was found to encode a protein of 1619 amino acids, called NompC for no mechanoreceptor /potential. 

---