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Related Concept Videos

The Cochlea01:13

The Cochlea

44.8K
The cochlea is a coiled structure in the inner ear that contains hair cells—the sensory receptors of the auditory system. Sound waves are transmitted to the cochlea by small bones attached to the eardrum called the ossicles, which vibrate the oval window that leads to the inner ear. This causes fluid in the chambers of the cochlea to move, vibrating the basilar membrane.
44.8K
Hair Cells01:22

Hair Cells

40.3K
Hair cells are the sensory receptors of the auditory system—they transduce mechanical sound waves into electrical energy that the nervous system can understand. Hair cells are located in the organ of Corti within the cochlea of the inner ear, between the basilar and tectorial membranes. The actual sensory receptors are called inner hair cells. The outer hair cells serve other functions, such as sound amplification in the cochlea, and are not discussed in detail here.
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Auditory Pathway01:15

Auditory Pathway

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Auditory pathways constitute the complex neural circuits responsible for transmitting and interpreting auditory information from the peripheral auditory system to the brain. Sound waves are initially captured by the outer ear, funneled through the ear canal, and reach the tympanic membrane (eardrum). These vibrations are transmitted via the middle ear's ossicles to the inner ear's cochlea.
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking...
5.4K

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 1, 2025

Immunolabeling and Counting Ribbon Synapses in Young Adult and Aged Gerbil Cochleae
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Immunolabeling and Counting Ribbon Synapses in Young Adult and Aged Gerbil Cochleae

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Cochlear Ribbon Synapses in Aged Gerbils.

Sonny Bovee1, Georg M Klump1,2,3, Sonja J Pyott4

  • 1Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Health Science, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany.

International Journal of Molecular Sciences
|March 13, 2024
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Aging ears show a 20% loss of auditory nerve synapses, primarily impacting low-spontaneous-rate fibers at high-frequency cochlear locations. This suggests a specific vulnerability in the auditory pathway with age.

Keywords:
age-related hearing lossauditoryauditory nervecochleagerbilhearinginner hair cellsynaptopathy

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Morphological and Functional Evaluation of Ribbon Synapses at Specific Frequency Regions of the Mouse Cochlea
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Morphological and Functional Evaluation of Ribbon Synapses at Specific Frequency Regions of the Mouse Cochlea

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Postsynaptic Recordings at Afferent Dendrites Contacting Cochlear Inner Hair Cells: Monitoring Multivesicular Release at a Ribbon Synapse
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Postsynaptic Recordings at Afferent Dendrites Contacting Cochlear Inner Hair Cells: Monitoring Multivesicular Release at a Ribbon Synapse

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Morphological and Functional Evaluation of Ribbon Synapses at Specific Frequency Regions of the Mouse Cochlea
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Postsynaptic Recordings at Afferent Dendrites Contacting Cochlear Inner Hair Cells: Monitoring Multivesicular Release at a Ribbon Synapse
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Postsynaptic Recordings at Afferent Dendrites Contacting Cochlear Inner Hair Cells: Monitoring Multivesicular Release at a Ribbon Synapse

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Auditory Neuroscience
  • Gerontology

Background:

  • Mammalian hearing relies on type-I afferent auditory nerve fibers connected to inner hair cells via ribbon synapses.
  • Auditory nerve fibers vary in spontaneous rate and synaptic location (modiolar vs. pillar side).
  • Age-related changes and noise damage can disrupt this balance, with unclear functional consequences.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate age-related changes in auditory nerve ribbon synapse morphology.
  • To compare synaptic changes at different tonotopic locations in aging gerbils.
  • To determine if specific auditory nerve fiber populations are preferentially affected by aging.

Main Methods:

  • Immunofluorescent labeling of presynaptic ribbons and postsynaptic glutamate receptor patches.
  • Microscopic analysis of synaptic morphology in gerbil cochleae.
  • Comparison between young adult and quiet-aged gerbils at apical, middle, and basal cochlear regions.

Main Results:

  • A significant ~20% loss of afferent ribbon synapses was observed in quiet-aged gerbils.
  • Synapse loss was random at apical (low-frequency) locations.
  • At the basal (high-frequency) location, age-related loss predominantly affected modiolar-side synapses.

Conclusions:

  • Aging leads to a significant loss of auditory nerve ribbon synapses, particularly in the cochlear base.
  • The preferential loss of modiolar synapses suggests a predominant impact on low-spontaneous-rate auditory nerve fibers.
  • Synaptic morphology differences between modiolar and pillar sides were maintained, supporting a selective loss of specific fiber types.