Aberrant tonotopic organization in the inner ear damaged by kanamycin

Spiral ganglion cell recordings were obtained from normal and kanamycin-damaged guinea pig cochleas. Results show that kanamycin poisoning, which causes loss of outer hair cells, leads to a loss of sharp, sensitive tuning and, in addition, a shift to lower frequencies in the tuning curves from a damaged region. The normal tonoptic pattern of organization is therefore greatly disrupted in the damaged cochleas.