Inner hair cells (magnified)
Cellulae sensoriae internae
Sensory (eye & ear)OrgansWhole body
- What it is
- A single row of flask-shaped sensory cells, about 3,500 per ear, each crowned by a shallow line of stereocilia in three rows of graded height. Every inner hair cell is contacted by 10-20 afferent nerve fibres.
- Function
- The true sound receptors: bending of the stereocilia opens ion channels, depolarises the cell and releases glutamate onto cochlear-nerve endings.
- Size
- Real length about 35 micrometres; stereocilia 2-8 micrometres tall.
- Clinical note
- Loss of inner hair cells causes permanent deafness because mammalian hair cells do not regenerate.