Identification of Tympanic Border Cells as Slow-Cycling Cells in the Cochlea
Figure 3
Section through an E18.5 cochlea five days after BrdU injection.
All panels are from one section. This section is representative of the ten cochleae studied. Triple immunostaining was performed for BrdU (A, C, D, and F), Ki-67(B, C, E, and F), and Myosin 7a (Myo7a, hair cell marker) (F). Nuclei were stained using DAPI (D, E, and F). We observed BrdU-positive cells mainly lateral and medial to organs of Corti (A, C, D, and F) in the lesser epithelial ridge (LER) and greater epithelial ridge (GER) areas, respectively. In contrast, Ki-67-positive cells were found among the tympanic border cells lining the scala tympani (ST) side of basilar membrane, and among cochlear nerve fibers (B, C, E, and F). GER : greater epithelial ridge, LER : lesser epithelial ridge, SM : scala media, ST : scala tympani. The scale bar indicates 50 µm.