Topic: mechanosensitive ion channels

Our ability to feel a touch relies on the activity of sensory neurons located within the skin. These neurons are able to detect nanometer-scale mechanical displacements at the skin surface and to transduce them into electrical signals. All mechanotransduction complexes identified so far rely on tethering mechanisms. We hypothesize that, similarly, mechanotransduction in the skin requires coupling between the mechanosensitive ion channels and the extracellular matrix mediated by protein tethers. In sensory neurons cultured on a laminin matrix and imaged either with TEM or FIB/SEM, these tethers