The potential and electric field in the cochlear outer hair cell membrane

Outer hair cell electromechanics, critically important to mammalian active hearing, is driven by the cell membrane potential. The membrane protein prestin is a crucial component of the active outer hair cell’s motor. The focus of the paper is the analysis of the local membrane potential and electric field resulting from the interaction of electric charges involved. Here the relevant charges are the ions inside and outside the cell, lipid bilayer charges, and prestin-associated charges (mobile—transferred by the protein under the action of the applied field, and stationary—relatively unmoved by the field). The electric potentials across and along the membrane are computed for the case of an applied DC-field. The local amplitudes and phases of the potential under different frequencies are analyzed for the case of a DC + AC-field. We found that the effect of the system of charges alters the electric potential and internal field, which deviate significantly from their traditional linear and constant distributions. Under DC + AC conditions, the strong frequency dependence of the prestin mobile charge has a relatively small effect on the amplitude and phase of the resulting potential. The obtained results can help in a better understanding and experimental verification of the mechanism of prestin performance.