A study published in the journal "Nature" indicates that a protein found in the inner ear enables the translation of sounds into nerve impulses
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A protein found in the inner ear is the key to normal hearing and this discovery could be used to develop a treatment for deafness. This is according to a study published in the journal "Nature".
For decades scientists have tried to understand what translates sounds into nerve impulses, which are translated by the brain. A research group from Harvard Medical School claims that it is a protein called TRPA1, which is located at the end of the hair cells of the inner ear.
The hearing process works like this: sounds pass through the ear canals until they reach the eardrum and cause it to vibrate. This causes three tiny bones, located behind the eardrum, to begin to vibrate. The bones transmit the vibrations to a thin tissue of cells at the entrance to the inner ear, called the oval window. The movement of the oval window causes oscillations in the form of waves in an organ called the cochlea, located in the inner ear. The cochlea contains thousands of fine hair cells that are connected to nerves, which in turn translate impulses to the brain, which translates the sound. However, it is not clear how the fine hairs in the inner ear convert the sound into electrical signals to the brain.
Scientists suspected that the process involves a pore or channel that allows electrical charge to reach the cells, where the hairs are located. Now researcher Dr. David Currie and his colleagues at Harvard believe that a critical component in this process is the protein called TRPA1.
The researchers conducted an experiment on mice and fish whose purpose was to test the role and location of the protein. They found that the protein is found at the ends of the hairs, and that the cells lose it when they can no longer produce electrical signals in response to vibrations.
Dr. Corey said that he believes that the protein's pores, which open and close in synchronization with sound waves, allow ions, such as sodium and calcium, to enter the cells and translate the vibrations into electrical signals.
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