Mechanotransduction channels in proprioceptive sensory nerve terminals: still an open question?

Mechanosensory transduction (MST) in proprioceptors, and other low threshold mechanosensory nerve terminals (LTMT), has been debated intensely for decades. MST in muscle spindles produces a receptor potential that encodes stimulus speed and duration, is predominantly due to Na+, a little Ca2+, plus some transient, non-mechanically-gated K+ ion fluxes. The abundant, multiple Na+-selective DEG/ENaC channel isoforms present in all LTMTs seemed...