Striola magica. A functional explanation of otolith geometry

Otolith end organs of vertebrates sense linear accelerations of the head and gravitation. The hair cells on their epithelia are responsible for transduction. In mammals, the striola, parallel to the line where hair cells reverse their polarization, is a narrow region centered on a curve with curvatu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of computational neuroscience Vol. 35; no. 2; pp. 125 - 154
Main Authors: Dimiccoli, Mariella, Girard, Benoît, Berthoz, Alain, Bennequin, Daniel
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Boston Springer US 01.10.2013
Springer Nature B.V
Springer Verlag
Subjects:
Acceleration
Algorithms
Animals
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Biophysics
Cognitive science
Computer Simulation
Hair Cells, Auditory, Inner - physiology
Hair Cells, Auditory, Inner - ultrastructure
Human Genetics
Models, Neurological
Neural Pathways - physiology
Neurology
Neurons, Afferent - physiology
Neuroscience
Neurosciences
Otolithic Membrane - cytology
Otolithic Membrane - physiology
Otolithic Membrane - ultrastructure
Rats
Saccule and Utricle - physiology
Sensation - physiology
Theory of Computation
Vestibule, Labyrinth - physiology
Otolith organs
Striola
Vestibular pathway
ISSN:0929-5313, 1573-6873, 1573-6873
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Otolith end organs of vertebrates sense linear accelerations of the head and gravitation. The hair cells on their epithelia are responsible for transduction. In mammals, the striola, parallel to the line where hair cells reverse their polarization, is a narrow region centered on a curve with curvature and torsion. It has been shown that the striolar region is functionally different from the rest, being involved in a phasic vestibular pathway. We propose a mathematical and computational model that explains the necessity of this amazing geometry for the striola to be able to carry out its function. Our hypothesis, related to the biophysics of the hair cells and to the physiology of their afferent neurons, is that striolar afferents collect information from several type I hair cells to detect the jerk in a large domain of acceleration directions. This predicts a mean number of two calyces for afferent neurons, as measured in rodents. The domain of acceleration directions sensed by our striolar model is compatible with the experimental results obtained on monkeys considering all afferents. Therefore, the main result of our study is that phasic and tonic vestibular afferents cover the same geometrical fields, but at different dynamical and frequency domains.
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ISSN:0929-5313
1573-6873
1573-6873
DOI:10.1007/s10827-013-0444-x