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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Comp Neurol. 2014 Jun 10;522(14):3141–3159. doi: 10.1002/cne.23625

Figure 9.

Figure 9

Basolateral processes of type II hair cells receive synaptic inputs from vestibular efferents. A. A horizontal confocal slice through the basolateral processes of type II hair cells in a 6 week-old CBA/CaJ mouse utricle labeled for myosin VIIa (green) and choline acetyl transferase (chat, magenta). Arrows point to three apparent sites of contact between efferent endings and basolateral processes. B. An ultrathin transverse section through a utricle from a 9 week-old CBA/CaJ mouse. The basolateral processes (P) of a type II hair cell (HCII) of a type II hair cell are tinted green. The box indicates the site of an efferent nerve element (eff) that synapses on the process; this site is shown at higher magnification in the inset on the upper right. In the inset, the white arrowhead points to polyribosomes in the hair cell process, the black arrowhead points to the post-synaptic cistern in the hair cell, and the black arrow points to the pre-synaptic vesicles in the efferent nerve element (eff). SC = supporting cell, Cx = calyx of a type I hair cell. Scale bars: A = 4 μm; B = 2 μm; inset B = 500 nm.