Measurement of Mechanical Properties of the Outer Hair Cell with Atomic Force Microscopy

The distribution of mechanical properties of guinea-pig outer hair cells (OHCs) along the cell axis was measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was found that mechanical properties in the basal and middle regions of the OHC are almost constant and that mechanical properties in the apical region are a maximum of three times larger than those in the basal and middle regions of the cell.