Abstract
Imaging with hard X-rays allows visualizing cochlear structures while maintaining intrinsic qualities of the tissue, including structure and size. With coherent X-rays, soft tissues, including membranes, can be imaged as well as cells making use of the so-called in-line phase contrast. In the present experiments, partially coherent synchrotron radiation has been used for micro-tomography. Three-dimensional reconstructions of the mouse cochlea have been created using the EM3D software and the volume has been segmented in the Amira Software Suite. The structures that have been reconstructed include scala tympani, scala media, scala vestibuli, Reissner's membrane, basilar membrane, tectorial membrane, organ of Corti, spiral limbus, spiral ganglion and cochlear nerve. Cross-sectional areas of the scalae were measured. The results provide a realistic and quantitative reconstruction of the cochlea.
Highlights
Today, mice provide the most common model to study hereditary abnormalities of the human cochlea because the homologies between mice and human genomes are well established and the hereditary abnormalities are similar [1,2]
Current techniques for using series of images to obtain a three-dimensional structure of the cochlear anatomy include classical histology, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), high-resolution computed tomography (CT) using conventional Xray sources and synchrotron radiation [3], orthogonal-plane optical fluorescence [4,5,6,7,8], and optical coherence tomography (OCT) using lasers [9,10,11,12,13,14,15]
Note for the following paragraph that interfaces between membranes, scalae, and bones can be clearly identified despite the noisy background
Summary
Mice provide the most common model to study hereditary abnormalities of the human cochlea because the homologies between mice and human genomes are well established and the hereditary abnormalities are similar [1,2]. It is of special interest to study mice with known gene defects and compromised cochlear function regarding anatomical and histological changes. Current techniques for using series of images to obtain a three-dimensional structure of the cochlear anatomy include classical histology (sectioning and staining), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), high-resolution computed tomography (CT) using conventional Xray sources and synchrotron radiation [3], orthogonal-plane optical fluorescence [4,5,6,7,8], and optical coherence tomography (OCT) using lasers [9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. Sectioning of a cochlea involves several steps, such as fixation, dehydration, embedding, and slicing of the sample. These steps may significantly change the dimension of the soft tissues [16,17,18], including Reissner’s membrane
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call