Figure 2. Hair cell loss in Cx26^Sox10Cre mice at P30.

(a) Horizontal sections (orthogonal to the modiolus) of cochleae from P30 Cx26^Sox10Cre mice. Images from apical, medial and basal turns were obtained by maximal intensity back–projection of 20 confocal optical sections from a 2 µm step though–focus sequence (z–stack). Actin filaments were stained with Texas red conjugated phalloidin (red) and nuclei with DAPI (blue); OHC, outer hair cells; IHC, inner hair cell. scale bar: 50 µm. (b) Percentage of hair cell survival in the basal, middle and apical turn of cochleae from Cx26^Sox10Cre mice relative to corresponding controls in Cx26^loxP/loxP mice.