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. 2022 Mar 4;10:841708. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.841708

FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 1

The stria vascularis (SV) is a highly specialized and vascularized tissue lining the lateral wall of the cochlea. (A) A cross-section of the cochlea. (B) The three conventional cell layers of the SV include the marginal cell layer (MC), the intermediate cell layer, and the basal cell layer (BC). The marginal cell layer is exposed to the endolymph and the basal cell layer interacts with spiral ligament fibrocytes. The intermediate cell layer is composed of perivascular-resident macrophage-like melanocytes (PVM/M), pericytes (PC), and endothelial cells (EC). The cell layers are tightly interlocked by infoldings and projections between the basolateral membranes of marginal cells and the PVM/Ms, and the PVM/Ms and the basal cells. (C) Other cell types in the lateral wall that contribute to SV function include spindle cells (SC) and root cells (RC). Other labels: Reisner’s membrane (RM); tectorial membrane (TM); spiral ganglion (SG); inner hair cell (IHC); outer hair cells (OHC); basilar membrane (BM); spiral ligament (SL); tight junctions (TJ); endothelial basement membrane (EBM) and intrastrial space (IS). (C) adapted from Gu et al. (2020).