A basal piece of a one-month-old CGRPα-EGFP (GENSAT)
mouse cochlea demonstrating the labeling of medial efferents, lateral efferents
and some SGNs (a few indicated with arrowheads) (a). In a more
zoomed in view (b), the endings on the OHCs labeled in the
CGRPα-EGFP (GENSAT) cochlea belong to medial
efferents, as confirmed by co-labeling with VAChT (vesicular acetylcholine
transporter) (c-d). Similarly, the co-labeling with
SV2 (synaptic vesicle protein 2) confirms that the endings under the IHCs belong
to the lateral efferents (e-g). Insets to
the right of d and g: an enlarged view of the medial
and lateral efferent endings, marked by the arrows in d and
g, respectively, for better visualization of the overlapping
staining. Scale bar: 100 μm in a, 10 μm in
b-g, and 2 μm in the
Insets.