Figure 5.

After the onset of hearing (P12–P13), GJIC was dye selective and compartmentalized. In all panels, an asterisk denotes the injected cell. a, LY (green) and NBN (red) injected into an inner border cell during a 10 min whole-cell recording. NBN spread to all other medial region supporting cells. LY did not escape from the inner border cell to inner phalangeal cells (arrowheads). NBN did not spread laterally to the outer pillar cell (position indicated by arrow). Neither dye was detected in the IHCs. b, Injection into a peripheral inner sulcus cell demonstrated LY spread to other peripheral inner sulcus cells, and NBN spread into inner phalangeal cells (arrowheads) and other medial region cells, but not into outer pillar cells (arrow). c, Injection into a Deiters’ cell demonstrated longitudinal spread of NBN (arrowheads) throughout the lateral region supporting cells and medially to outer pillar cells but not into inner pillar cells (arrow). LY did not escape the Deiters’ cell. d, Injection into a Hensen’s cell demonstrated LY spread to other Hensen’s cells but not into Deiters’ cells. There was radial spread of NBN as far as the outer pillar cells but not into inner pillar cells (arrow). Scale bars, 20 μm.