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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Dissection of the Auditory Bulla in Postnatal Mice: Isolation of the Middle Ear Bones and Histological Analysis
Published on: January 4, 2017
Attachment of the utricular and saccular maculae to the temporal bone
Hilal Uzun-Coruhlu1, Ian S Curthoys, Allan S Jones
1University of Sydney, Australian Key Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Madsen Building, F09, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. hilal@emu.usyd.edu.au
Abstract:
The present investigation concerns the true morphology of the attachment of the two otolith receptor organs the utricular and the saccular maculae in two and three dimensions. By applying a new visualization method, which utilized the application of X-ray microtomography and a method of contrast enhancement based on en-bloc staining in osmium tetroxide, we were able to overcome problems of artefact production such as tissue distortion and loss of valuable information that was present in previous studies. A series of more than 1000 axial sections were obtained for each of the specimens, which subsequently formed the basis for detailed 2D and 3D visualizations. Our interpretations of these data reveal that the saccular maculae are closely attached to the curved bony surface of the temporal bone as traditionally believed, but the utricular macula is attached to the temporal bone only at the anterior region of the macula.
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