Figure 3.

Scanning electron micrographs of the organ of Corti at four weeks old. Left column, wildtypes; right column, homozygous Pex3^tm1a mutants. (A–F) low magnification images of the surface of the organ of Corti at three characteristic-frequency locations: (A,B) 18 kHz; (C,D), 24 kHz; (E,F) 30 kHz regions. (G–J), Higher magnification of stereocilia bundles. (G,H) inner hair cells from 24 kHz frequency region; (I,J), outer hair cells from 12 kHz frequency region, showing no obvious differences between Pex3^tm1a mutants and controls. Occasionally, missing stereocilia bundles were observed in OHCs in both mutant and control samples. n = 7 for each genotype. Scale bars (A–F), 10 μm; (G–J), 1 μm.