Height of tallest hair attached to a single kinocilium in cochlear hair cell

Range 6 - 7 µm
Organism Turtle Trachemys scripta elegans
Reference Crawford AC, Fettiplace R. The mechanical properties of ciliary bundles of turtle cochlear hair cells. J Physiol. 1985 Jul364: 359-79. p.363 3rd paragraphPubMed ID4032304
Method "The object of the work to be described is a quantitative analysis of the mechanical properties of the hair bundles. The approach has been to measure the bending of a single bundle in the turtle cochlea by attaching it to a flexible glass fibre, and monitoring the fibre's motion through its shadowing of a light beam falling on a photodiode array."
Comments "The mechanically sensitive component of each turtle hair cell consists of a bundle of about 100 stiff interconnected hairs or stereocilia that project from the cell's apical surface. Rows of hairs are graded in height across the bundle, and the tallest, attached to a single kinocilium [="a special type of cilium on the apex of hair cells located in the sensory epithelium of the vertebrate inner ear.", wiki], attains a height of 6-7µm. The bundles are therefore morphologically polarized and, in the turtle cochlea, all have a common orientation with the kinocilium placed on the abneural side of the bundle (Miller, 1978 PMID 645610)."
Entered by Uri M
ID 111038