MOUSE GENETICS

Visualization of the sensory cells of the inner ear detecting sound The cochlear part of the inner ear able us to detect sound. The sensory cells, called hair cells, are able to detect specific sound frequencies and generate an electric signal that will be sent to the brain. Hair cells are aligned along the cochlea according to their frequency sensitivity. The hair cells of the cochlea are therefore decomposing the complex sounds into individual signals, playing the inverted function of a musical instrument. Here the hair cells of a mouse cochlea were genetically stained for TdTomato (red). This picture was finalist in the 2012 GE Healthcare Life Sciences Cell imaging competition. Visualization of the sensory cells of the inner ear detecting angular acceleration. We are able to detect head movement because of the ability of the vestibular part of the inner ear to detect such changes. Here we visualize the anatomy of this nervous system at the level of a semi-circular canal. The sensory cells, called hair cells, are positioned at the base of a dome. They will be stimulated upon specific angular acceleration giving us the sense of spatial positioning. Here a mouse ampulla was stained for actin (green) and the hair cells were genetically stained with TdTomato (red). This picture was finalist in the 2012 GE Healthcare Life Sciences Cell imaging competition.
Category
Mouse Genetics
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