Figure 8.

Overview of the crista ampullaris in the human fetal VO at W12 in (A). The DC area of the cristae (arrow) is clearly distinct from both the lower portion of sensory epithelium (SE) close to the transitional zone (arrow) and the simple cuboidal epithelium (CE) (arrow). The cells in the CE (B) is single layered and uniformly sized while the DC (C) begin to develop their basal labyrinth with various spaces separated by a basal lamina (colored red) toward the mesothelial compartments. Large lobulated nuclei (N) placed in the upper portion of the cells further characterize these cells. Most of the cytoplasmic organelles are located in the upper two-thirds of the DC's, including numerous irregular vacuoles. Deep infoldings of the lateral and basal plasmalemma divide the lower third of these cells into numerous foliate cytoplasmic compartments containing mitochondria (C). Scale bar: 20 μm (A), 2 μm (B), and 1 μm (C).