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Cochlear histology
Make it clearer
The cochlea is the spiral chamber of the inner ear, and it is not hollow inside: it is a coiled hallway with a floor, a ceiling, and rows of cells.
In the middle compartment, called the scala media, lives the organ of Corti, the tissue that hears. It runs the whole spiral. Below, it rests on the basilar membrane, and above it is associated with the tectorial membrane, a gelatinous sheet that is not made of cells.
The cells of that hallway are the hair cells, the sensory cells of hearing. There is a single row of inner hair cells and three rows of outer ones, and between them runs the tunnel of Corti.
The fluid in that compartment is special too: endolymph is high in potassium and low in sodium, and it is unlike the perilymph next door.
In brief
The organ of Corti is the cochlea's sensory epithelium; it sits in the scala media and runs the entire spiral.
A coiled hallway with a floor, a ceiling, and rows of cells.
It rests on the basilar membrane and is associated above with the tectorial membrane, a gelatinous sheet with no cells.
It carries one row of inner hair cells and three of outer ones, separated by the tunnel of Corti.
That compartment holds endolymph, high in potassium and low in sodium, unlike the neighboring perilymph.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAnatomy, Head and Neck: Inner Ear, StatPearlsPublished
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