Fig. 6.

Apoptotic hair cell death at P6mo in the cochlea of CBA and C57 mice. Apoptotic cells were observed by either the TUNEL assay (A) or Western blot for cleaved caspase-3 (B). Strongly stained nuclei of the outer hair cells (arrows) which represent the more severe apoptosis were observed at the basal turn of the cochlea in C57 mice compared with CBA mice (A). Activated caspase-3 was more evident in C57 mice than in CBA mice at P6mo (B). OC: organ of Corti.