A general mathematical model of transduction events in mechanosensory stretch receptors

Mechanoreceptors are the largest class of sensory neurons, expressing great diversity, and are implicated in a variety of sensory pathways, including touch, nociception, hearing and proprioception. However, of all the sensory modalities, the mechanisms of mechanosensation are the least understood. Focusing on non-ciliated, stretch-sensitive mechanoreceptors, and using experimental and theoretical approaches, a mathematical explanation of their function has been produced and tested in a model system.
It has been shown that a biomechanical model of mechanoreceptors is sufficient to describe the mode of activation and adaptation in type-II, non-ciliated, stretch-sensitive receptors. Whole-cell patch clamp recordings from dbd neurons of D. melanogaster have also successfully yielded data on the behaviour of these endings, which are consistent with the model predictions. Furthermore, the model has also been shown to be a valid representation of extant mammalian data.
The experimentally-derived data can be used to constrain the current model of mechanoreceptor adaptation. Subsequently, the parameters of this model can be used to identify the molecular mediators of mechanotransduction in our model system. Furthermore, these findings are likely to have significance in similar systems across taxa.