From placode to polarization: new tunes in inner ear development
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 22, 2026

In Ovo and Ex Ovo Methods to Study Avian Inner Ear Development
Published on: June 16, 2022
Kate F Barald1, Matthew W Kelley
1Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Program in Neuroscience, Cell and Molecular Biology Program, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0616, USA.
Abstract:
The highly orchestrated processes that generate the vertebrate inner ear from the otic placode provide an excellent and circumscribed testing ground for fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms of development. The recent pace of discovery in developmental auditory biology has been unusually rapid, with hundreds of papers published in the past 4 years. This review summarizes studies addressing several key issues that shape our current thinking about inner ear development, with particular emphasis on early patterning events, sensory hair cell specification and planar cell polarity.
Related Concept Videos
Neurulation
The Cochlea
Hair Cells
Auditory Pathway
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking the...
Cleavage and Blastulation
Anatomy of the Ear

