Modeling electrodiffusion in the outer hair cell

Presents a distributed-parameter electrodiffusion model of the outer hair cell which allows for prediction of the spatio-temporal character of the ion concentration dynamics due to radial and longitudinal ion flux in the working volumes: the extra-cisternal space, axial core and lumped stereocilia. The Nernst-Planck relation is used to represent longitudinal electrodiffusion as a function of the spatial distribution of ion concentration and electric potential. The model allows for definition of the spatial distribution and kinetics of an arbitrary set of ion channels in the plasma membrane and subsurface cisternae. The spatio-temporal properties of the predicted component potentials and concentrations are presented for both the in-vitro case, considering basal current injection, and the in-vivo case, considering modulation of the silent current by the mechano-electric transduction channels