Kölliker’s Organ and the Development of Spontaneous Activity in the Auditory System: Implications for Hearing Dysfunction

Figure 1

The immature organ of Corti and the adjacent Kölliker’s organ. (a) A cross sectional diagram of a rat organ of Corti (approximately 10 days old) outlining the sensory hair cells and supporting epithelia. Kölliker’s organ is found immediately adjacent to the inner hair cells (IHCs), shaded in darker colour (HC-Hensen’s cells; DC-Deiters’ cells; OHC-outer hair cells; PC-pillar cells; IHC-inner hair cells; and KO-Kölliker’s organ). (b) A diagram outlining a horizontal section of the same developing organ of Corti, detailing the positions of various sensory and nonsensory cells. (c) Resin embedded toluidine-blue stained 1 μm cross section of a 10-day-old Wistar rat organ of Corti. (d) Resin embedded horizontal section of an 11-day-old Wistar rat organ of Corti, postfixed in 1% osmium tetroxide. Scale bar: 20 μm.