Mechanoelectrical transducer has discrete conductances in the chick vestibular hair cell.

Properties of mechanoelectrical transduction were studied at the single-cell level by applying a whole-cell recording variation of the patch-clamp technique to dissociated vestibular hair cells of chicks. The hair bundle was directly stimulated by a glass rod, and transduction currents were recorded from the cell body. After a triangular movement of the stimulating probe, the transduction current was generated stepwise between discrete levels of amplitude. The minimum step amplitude was -1.8 pA at -27 mV in Na-containing normal saline.