The Combination of Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopy Techniques in Pathology of the Organ of Corti in Guinea Pigs

The pathology of the organ of Corti in guinea pigs is studied by means of SEM and TEM. It was the purpose of this study to examine the surface of an experimentally altered organ of Corti by means of SEM screening method). As it was our main interest to find out the localization of acoustic stimulation regarding the tonotopicity on the surface of the organ of Corti, we always examined the whole cochlear by means of SEM first. In acoustic experiments we used long-time pure-tone stimulation beyond the directly damaging sound pressure level, as well as white noise or shots for experimental damage of hair cells and supporting cells. Specimens of particular interest underwent a special procedure for a supplementary TEM examination. A prolonged and modified technique of embedding the specimens in Epon 812 permitted us to obtain supplementary data from TEM without major artifacts in the fine structure of the cells.