Magnetic actuation of hair cells

Synergism of Nanomaterials with Physical Stimuli for Biology and Medicine

Developing innovative tools that facilitate the understanding of sophisticated biological systems has been one of the Holy Grails in the physical and biological sciences. In this Commentary, we discuss recent advances, opportunities, and challenges in the use of nanomaterials as a precision tool for biology and medicine.

High-order synchronization of hair cell bundles

Auditory and vestibular hair cell bundles exhibit active mechanical oscillations at natural frequencies that are typically lower than the detection range of the corresponding end organs. We explore how these noisy nonlinear oscillators mode-lock to frequencies higher than their internal clocks. A nanomagnetic technique is used to stimulate the bundles without an imposed mechanical load. The evoked response shows regimes of high-order mode-locking. Exploring a broad range of stimulus frequencies and intensities, we observe regions of high-order synchronization, analogous to Arnold Tongues in dynamical systems literature. Significant areas of overlap occur between synchronization regimes, with the bundle intermittently flickering between different winding numbers. We demonstrate how an ensemble of these noisy spontaneous oscillators could be entrained to efficiently detect signals significantly above the characteristic frequencies of the individual cells.

Low frequency entrainment of oscillatory bursts in hair cells

Sensitivity of mechanical detection by the inner ear is dependent upon a highly nonlinear response to the applied stimulus. Here we show that a system of differential equations that support a subcritical Hopf bifurcation, with a feedback mechanism that tunes an internal control parameter, captures a wide range of experimental results. The proposed model reproduces the regime in which spontaneous hair bundle oscillations are bistable, with sporadic transitions between the oscillatory and the quiescent state. Furthermore, it is shown, both experimentally and theoretically, that the application of a high-amplitude stimulus to the bistable system can temporarily render it quiescent before recovery of the limit cycle oscillations. Finally, we demonstrate that the application of low-amplitude stimuli can entrain bundle motility either by mode-locking to the spontaneous oscillation or by mode-locking the transition between the quiescent and oscillatory states.

Magnetic actuation of hair cells

The bullfrog sacculus contains mechanically sensitive hair cells whose stereociliary bundles oscillate spontaneously when decoupled from the overlying membrane. Steady-state offsets on the resting position of a hair bundle can suppress or modulate this native motility. To probe the dynamics of spontaneous oscillation in the proximity of the critical point, we describe here a method for mechanical actuation that avoids loading the bundles or contributing to the viscous drag. Magnetite beads were attached to the tips of the stereocilia, and a magnetic probe was used to impose deflections. This technique allowed us to observe the transition from multi-mode to single-mode state in freely oscillating bundles, as well as the crossover from the oscillatory to the quiescent state.