Abstract
Mechanosensation, the ability to detect – and respond to – mechanical stimulus force, is a basic property shared by virtually all organisms and cells: tension forces acting on cells, for example, can influence cell shape by acting through integrin receptors, and mechanosensitive ion channels mediate volume changes in many pro- and eukaryotic cells. Dedicated mechanosensory (or mechanoreceptor) cells and organs are found in metazoans where they serve the detection of, e.g., medium flows, body movements, gravity, touch, sound, and noxious mechanical stimuli such as pinching of the skin.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Kung C, Martinac B, Sukharev S (2010) Mechanosensitive channels in microbes. Annu Rev Microbiol 64:313–329
Machemer H, Bräucker R (1992) Gravireception and graviresponses in ciliates. Acta Protozool 31:185–214
Roberts AM (2010) The mechanics of gravitaxis in Paramecium. J Exp Biol 213:4158–4162
Sukharev S, Corey DP (2004) Mechanosensitive channels: multiplicity of families and gating paradigms. Sci STKE 3:re4
Lumpkin EA, Marshall KL, Nelson AM (2010) The cell biology of touch. J Cell Biol 191:237–248
Kung C (2005) A possible unifying principle for mechanosensation. Nature 436:647–654
Chalfie M (2009) Neurosensory mechanotransduction. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 10:44–52
Mederos y Schnitzler M, Storch U, Meibers S, Nurwakagari P, Breit A, Essin K, Gollasch M, Gudermann T (2008) Gq-coupled receptors as mechanosensors mediating myogenic vasoconstriction. EMBO J 27:3092–3103
Christensen AP, Corey DP (2007) TRP channels in mechanosensation: direct or indirect activation? Nat Rev Neurosci 8:510–521
Bechstedt S, Howard J (2007) Models of hair cell mechanotransduction. Curr Top Membr 59:399–424
Nadrowski B, Göpfert MC (2009) Modeling auditory transducer dynamics. Curr Opin Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 17:400–406
Hudspeth AJ, Choe Y, Mehta AD, Martin P (2000) Putting ion channels to work: mechanoelectrical transduction, adaptation, and amplification by hair cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97:11765–11772
Gillespie PG, Cyr JL (2004) Myosin-1c, the hair cell’s adaptation motor. Annu Rev Physiol 66:521–545
Peng AW, Salles FT, Pan B, Ricci AJ (2011) Integrating the biophysical and molecular mechanisms of auditory hair cell mechanotransduction. Nat Commun 1:523
Chalfie M, Au M (1989) Genetic control of differentiation of the Caenorhabditis elegans touch receptor neurons. Science 243:1027–1033
Chalfie M, Sulston J (1981) Developmental genetics of the mechanosensory neurons of Caenorhabditis elegans. Dev Biol 82:358–370
Sulston J, Dew M, Brenner S (1975) Dopaminergic neurons in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. J Comp Neurol 163:215–226
Chelur DS, Ernstrom GG, Goodman MB, Yao CA, Chen L, O’Hagan R, Chalfie M (2002) The mechanosensory protein MEC-6 is a subunit of the C. elegans touch-cell degenerin channel. Nature 420:669–673
Goodman MB, Ernstrom GG, Chelur DS, O’Hagan R, Yao CA, Chalfie M (2002) MEC-2 regulates C. elegans DEG/ENaC channels needed for mechanosensation. Nature 415:1039–1042
O’Hagan R, Chalfie M, Goodman MB (2005) The MEC-4 DEG/ENaC channel of Caenorhabditis elegans touch receptor neurons transduces mechanical signals. Nat Neurosci 8:43–50
Cantor RS (1997) Lateral pressures in cell membranes: a mechanism for modulation of protein function. J Phys Chem B 101:1723–1725
Brown AL, Liao ZW, Goodman MB (2008) MEC-2 and MEC-6 in the Caenorhabditis elegans sensory mechanotransduction complex: auxiliary subunits that enable channel activity. J Gen Physiol 131:605–616
Bounoutas A, O’Hagan R, Chalfie M (2009) The multipurpose 15-protofilament microtubules in C. elegans have specific roles in mechanosensation. Curr Biol 19:1362–1367
Cueva JG, Mulholland A, Goodman MB (2007) Nanoscale organization of the MEC-4 DEG/ENaC sensory mechanotransduction channel in Caenorhabditis elegans touch receptor neurons. J Neurosci 27:14089–14098
Venkatachalam K, Montell C (2007) TRP channels. Annu Rev Biochem 76:387–417
Kernan M, Cowan D, Zuker C (1994) Genetic dissection of mechanosensory transduction: mechanoreception-defective mutations of Drosophila. Neuron 12:1195–1206
Walker RG, Willingham AT, Zuker CS (2000) A Drosophila mechanosensory transduction channel. Science 287:2229–2234
Delmas P, Hao JZ, Rodat-Despoix L (2011) Molecular mechanisms of mechanotransduction in mammalian sensory neurons. Nat Rev Neurosci 12:139–153
Johnson KO (2001) The roles and functions of cutaneous mechanoreceptors. Curr Opin Neurobiol 11:455–461
Lumpkin EA, Caterina MJ (2007) Mechanisms of sensory transduction in the skin. Nature 445:858–865
Gronenberg W, Tautz J, Hölldobler B (1993) Fast trap jaws and giant neurons in the ant Odontomachus. Science 262:561–563
Diamond ME, von Heimendahl M, Knutsen PM, Kleinfeld D, Ahissar E (2008) ‘Where’ and ‘what’ in the whisker sensorimotor system. Nat Rev Neurosci 9:601–612
Petersen CC (2007) The functional organization of the barrel cortex. Neuron 56:339–355
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Albert, J.T., Göpfert, M.C. (2013). Mechanosensation. In: Galizia, C., Lledo, PM. (eds) Neurosciences - From Molecule to Behavior: a university textbook. Springer Spektrum, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10769-6_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10769-6_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer Spektrum, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-10768-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-10769-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)