Localization and developmental expression of BK channels in mammalian cochlear hair cells
Section snippets
Immunohistochemistry
C57BL/6J mice at embryonic stages (E) 15–16 and 18, P0, P6, P12, P15 and adult were used for the present study. Minimums of five animals were used per stage. Mice were killed by cervical dislocation (adult) and/or were then decapitated. Animals were deeply anaesthetized before being killed and their handling throughout these experiments was performed with authorisation of the French Ministry of Agriculture and in accordance with EEC regulations. All efforts were made to minimize the number of
Distribution of BK channels in the adult mouse cochlea
Immunoreactivity of Slo channels was observed in various structures of the mature cochlea. Mid to strong expression was noted in the spiral ligament and in the surface cells of the spiral prominence (Fig. 1a). A strong immunoreactivity was also observed in Böttcher cells located on the pars pectinata of the basilar membrane and in Claudius cells (Fig. 1a–c). In the organ of Corti, a strong expression was observed in IHCs (Fig. 1a, b). We could identify no evidence for a gradient of differential
Discussion
Our study clearly shows that mature IHCs of the mouse cochlea strongly express the Slo-encoded α-subunit protein, known to constitute when assembled in tetramers functional BK channels (Atkinson et al., 1991). These results are in agreement with recent studies showing that adult rat IHCs express Slo transcripts mRNA (Brandle et al., 2001; Skinner et al., 2003; Langer et al., 2003). They also fit well with recent studies showing strong immunolabeling of BK channels in mature guinea-pig or mouse
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Professor James Saunders for his comments and English correction of the manuscript.
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