The sense of hearing is remarkable for its auditory dynamic range, which spans more than
1012 in acoustic intensity. The mechanisms that enable the cochlea to transduce high sound …

The endocochlear potential (EP) is essential to hearing, because it provides approximately
half of the driving force for the mechanoelectrical transduction current in auditory hair cells …

Connexin hemichannels are robustly regulated by voltage and divalent cations. The basis of
voltage-dependent gating, however, has been questioned with reports that it is not intrinsic …

Gap junctions are essential to the function of multicellular animals, which require a high
degree of coordination between cells. In vertebrates, gap junctions comprise connexins and …

Connexins are thought to solely mediate cell-to-cell communication by forming gap junction
channels composed of two membrane-spanning hemichannels positioned end-to-end …

Intercellular communication can occur through gap junction channels, which are comprised
of connexin proteins. Therefore, levels of connexins can directly correlate with gap junctional …

Mutations in connexins (Cxs), the constitutive protein subunits of gap junction (GJ)
intercellular channels, are one of the most common human genetic defects that cause …

Hair cells in the mammalian cochlea transduce mechanical stimuli into electrical signals
leading to excitation of auditory nerve fibres1. Because of their important role in hearing …

Connexin hemichannels (connexons) are building blocks of gap junctions but also function
as free unapposed channels, which has become an active field of research. Defining …

Connexin hemichannels, that is, half gap junction channels (not connecting cells), have
been implicated in the release of various messengers such as ATP and glutamate. We used …