FIGURE 2.

Scanning electron image of the imprints of the stereocilia of the OHCs. The inset box depicts the contact area for the AFM probe tips; the square approximates the contact area of a pyramid indented to a depth of 300 nm, and the circle represents the area of contact for a sphere indented to 300 nm. The diameter of the circle is 2.4 μm. (See Materials and Methods for the description of microscopy techniques.)