Electromechanical Role of Fixed Charge in the Mammalian Tectorial Membrane

The mammalian tectorial membrane (TM) is thought to play a purely mechanical role in stimulating cochlear sensory receptors, but the presence of glycosaminoglycans and associated fixed charge groups suggests that electromechanical properties also may be important. Here, we measure the fixed charge concentration of the TM (-7.1 mmol/L at physiological pH), and show that this concentration of fixed charge is sufficient to generate electrokinetic motions of the TM. Electrically-evoked TM motions were nanometer-scaled (5-200 nm), increased linearly with electric field amplitude (0.05-20 kV/m) and decreased with frequency (1-1000 Hz). This frequency dependence can be understood in terms of the interplay between electrophoresis and electro-osmosis. Although the electric fields applied in this study were large, they are comparable in amplitude to the electric fields generated near hair cell transduction channels. TM electrokinetics could thus play a role in the deflection of cochlear hair bundles in vivo.