Figure 4.

Sections from a 3 week and 7 week CD/1 mouse cochlea showing accelerated age-related hearing loss. Fibrocyte degeneration in these mice has been reported (Mahendrasingam et al., 2011b) and can be seen as loss of cell nuclei/thinning of the tissue (*). The evidence for progressive hydrops is indicated by the arrows, where Reissner’s membrane is distorted at 3 weeks, but this distortion becomes more exaggerated at 7 weeks, implying an increase in volume. Scale bar = 50 μm (adapted with permission from Mahendrasingam et al., 2011b).