Hair cells are important for equilibrium and hearing. how do hair cells detect mechanical signals of different intensities and direction? does mechanoreception using hair cells rely on receptor or generator potential or both? does mechanoreception using hair cells rely on ionotropic or metabotropic mechanisms of transduction or both? where in the inner ear do vertebrates sense balance and equilibrium? where in the inner ear do vertebrates detect sound?

Mechanical signals are detected when the hairs are disturbed. The intensity of the movement of the hair will be proportionate to the size of the signal. The direction of the movement of the hair will also be influenced by the direction of the signal.

The answer is both receptor and generator potentials. The two are used synonymously. They are graded potential rather than all-or-none potentials. This means that several stimuli could depolarise the receptor successively and a stimuli is spiked only if the summation of the stimuli reach the threshold for action potential.

The answer is ionotropic. This type of transduction involves ligand-based receptors. When a receptor binds to the receptor, the receptor changes conformation and transitions from a closed to an open state. The opening allows for smaller neurotransmitter molecules to move across the channel and invoke an impulse. Metabotropic receptors do not have such as opening but only invoke secondary messengers inside the cells.

The semicircular canal in the inner ear is responsible for balance. The semi-circular canal is composed of three semicircular tubes connected in perpendicular to each other (the horizontal, superior and posterior semicircular canals). It is filled with fluid and has hairs mechanoreceptors.

The cochlea in the inner ear is responsible for the conversion of the sound waves in the ear to impulse in the auditory nerve that sends the impulse to the brain. Similar to the semicircular canal. The cochlea is composed of fluid-filled tubes with hair mechanoreceptors in them.