Organization, Physiology, and Function of the Vestibular Sensory Apparatus Extending from the Cellular to System Level
Our laboratory studies the organization of the vestibular sensory apparatus. Using the vestibular system as a model for sensory processing, we combine structural, functional, and molecular approaches to investigate how the vestibular periphery is organized, how sensory information is perceived, the mechanisms by which these signals are transduced, and how the brain controls this incoming information.
Projects in our laboratory extend from the cellular to system level, and
include the study of hair cell regeneration, the development of hair cells and how their
development changes with sensory stimulation, and the effects of hyperstimulation upon
normal function and normal structure. We are examining the development of certain ionic
channels that characterize specific hair cell types to answer how these ionic channels
work to produce the signal processing seen on the afferent level, and to determine whether
the activity of a hair cell influences its synaptic elements. The physiological
characterization of individual vestibular nerve fibers is also an area of interest. Our
goal is to correlate the physiology of three different classes of afferents with the types
of contacts they make. Finally, we are investigating the anatomical and neurochemical
organization of vestibular efferents (neurons in the brainstem that project to the ear)
with respect to their origins in the brain and their terminations in the periphery, as
well as the types of inputs or commands that stimulate efferent response.
Selected References
Wooltorton, J.R., S. Gaboyard, K.M. Hurley, S.D. Price, H. Bao, J.L. Garcia, A. Lysakowski and R.A. Eatock (2007) Developmental changes in two voltage-dependent sodium currents in hair cells. J. Neurophysiol. 97:1684-1704.Holt, J.C., A.Lysakowski and J.M. Goldberg (2006) Mechanisms of efferent-mediated responses in the turtle posterior crista. J. Neurosci. 26:13180-13193.
Grabner, C.P., S.D. Price, A. Lysakowski, A. Cahill and A.P. Fox (2006) Regulation of large dense core vesicle volume and neurotransmitter content mediated by adaptor protein-3, PNAS 103:10035-40.
Moser, T., A. Brandt, A. Lysakowski (2006) Hair cell ribbon synapses. Cell Tissue Res. 326(2):347-59.Hurley, K.M., S. Gaboyard, J.R. Wooltorton, J.L. Garcia, S.D. Price, A. Lysakowski and R.A. Eatock (2006) M-like K+ currents in type I hair cells and calyx afferent endings of the developing rat utricle. J. Neurosci. 26:10253-10269.
Lysakowski, A. (2005) Anatomy of Vestibular End Organs and Neural Pathways, In: Otolaryngology: Vol. 4, Ear and Cranial Base, C.W. Cummings (Ed.), Mosby-Year Book Inc., St. Louis, 4th Edition. pp. 3089-3111.
Desai, S.S., C. Zeh, and A. Lysakowski (2005a) Comparative morphology of the rodent vestibular periphery: I. Saccular and utricular maculae. J. Neurophysiol. 93(1): 251-266.
Desai, S.S., H. Ali, and A. Lysakowski (2005b) Comparative morphology of the rodent vestibular periphery: II. Cristae ampullares. J. Neurophysiol. 93(1): 267-280.
Grabner, C.P., S.D. Price, A. Lysakowski and A.P. Fox (2005) Strong stimulation completely empties secretory granules in mouse adrenal chromaffin cells, J. Neurophysiol. 94: 2093-2104.
Luebke, A.E., P. Maroni, S.M. Guth, and A. Lysakowski (2005) Alpha-9 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit immunoreactivity in the rodent inner ear. J. Comp. Neurol. 492: 323-333.
Eatock, R.A. and A. Lysakowski (2005) Hair cells in mammalian vestibular organs. In: Vertebrate Hair Cells. R.A. Eatock, R.R. Fay and A.N. Popper (Eds.), Springer-Verlag. pp. 348-442.
Lysakowski, A. and J.M. Goldberg (2004) Morphophysiology of the vestibular sensory periphery. In: The Vestibular System. S.M. Highstein, R.R. Fay and A.N. Popper (Eds.), Springer-Verlag, pp. 57-152.
Lysakowski, A. and Singer, M. (2000) Nitric oxide synthase localized in a subpopulation of vestibular efferents with NADPH diaphorase histochemistry and nitric oxide synthase immunohistochemistry. J. Comp. Neurol. 427:508-521.
Hess, B.J.M., Lysakowski, A., Minor, L.B. and Angelaki, D.E. (2000) Central versus peripheral origin of vestibuloocular reflex recovery following semicircular canal plugging in rhesus monkeys. J. Neurophysiol. 84:3078-3082.
Liu, M., Pereira, F., Price, S.D., Chu, M.-J., Shope, C., Himes, D., Eatock, R.A., Brownell, W., Lysakowski, A. and Tsai, M.-J. (2000) Essential role of Beta2/NeuroD in development of the vestibular and auditory systems. Genes and Development 14:.2839-2854.
Baird, R.A., Burton, M.D., Lysakowski, A., Fashena, D.S. and Naeger, R.A. (2000) Hair cell recovery in mitotically blocked cultures of the bullfrog saccule. Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 97:11722-11729.
Bermingham, N., Hassan, B., Vollrath, M., Price, S.D., Ben-Arie, N., Eatock, R.A., Bellen, H.J., Lysakowski, A. and Zoghbi, H.Y. (1999) Math1: an essential gene for the generation of inner ear hair cells. Science 284:1837-1841.
Lysakowski, A., Figueras, H., Price, S.D. and Peng, Y.Y. (1999) Dense-cored vesicles, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, and mitochondria are closely associated with non-specialized parts of plasma membrane of nerve terminals: Implications for exocytosis and calcium buffering by intraterminal organelles. J. Comp. Neurol. 403:378-390.
Rüsch, A., Lysakowski, A. and Eatock, R.A. (1998) Postnatal development of type I and II hair cells in the mouse utricle: Acquisition of voltage-gated conductances and differentiated morphology. J. Neuroscience 18:7487-7501.
Lysakowski, A. and Goldberg, J.M. (1997) A regional ultrastructural analysis of the cellular and synaptic architecture in the chinchilla cristae ampullares. J. Comp. Neurol. 389:419-443.
