Fig. 5.

Tendon insertion of the stapedius muscle to the stapes. A specimen from an 81-year-old man (the same specimen as shown in Fig. 3). (A,G) Elastica-Masson staining (EM stain). (B) Aldehyde-fuchsin staining (AF stain). (C) Immunohistochemistry (IHC) for hyaluronan. (D) IHC for fibronectin. (E) IHC for versican. (F) IHC for aggrecan. (A–F) Near sections. (A,B) (or C–F) are prepared at the same magnification (scale bars in panels A, C and G). (G) A mesentery-like structure to fix the tendon (arrowheads): it contains no elastic fibers. Dotted line in (B,C) indicate the tidemark: elastic fibers insert deeply into the uncalcified fibrocartilage. Hyaluronan, fibronectin, versican and aggrecan appear to be expressed in the same area of the tendon and cartilage.