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. 2013 Jul 25;8(7):e69314. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069314

Figure 5. Spiral ganglion neurons and interdental cells are clonally related.

Figure 5

The tectorial membrane (tm) overlies the interdental cells and the apical surface of the organ of Corti. Spiral ganglion neurons (sgn) occupy the auditory ganglion whose fibers innervate sensory hair cells. The large blue box represents the location of the section in panel C and the small blue box represents the location of the sections in panels B and D. Schematic modified from Davis 1962 [50]. B–D, serial, 14 µm sections with PLAP-positive cells in the spiral ganglion (panels B, D) and the epithelial lip of the spiral limbus (panel C). The PLAP-positive cells in picks 3, 4, and 13 have large (∼8 µm diameter) cell bodies located in the spiral ganglion consistent with neuronal morphology. The PLAP-positive cell in pick 6 is in the epithelial lip of the spiral limbus formed by interdental cells. The black line indicates the boundary between the epithelial and mesenchymal layers of the cochlear duct. The spiral ganglion neurons and the interdental cell share the same 24-bp sequence tag. Picks 5 and 15 are negative control picks and the asterisk indicates a spiral ganglion neuron that did not return a PCR product. Abbreviations: is, inner sulcus.