Two Photon Fluorescence Microscopy of the Unstained Human Cochlea Reveals Organ of Corti Cytoarchitecture

Janani S Iyer; Richard Seist; In Seok Moon; Konstantina M Stankovic

doi:10.3389/fncel.2021.690953

Two Photon Fluorescence Microscopy of the Unstained Human Cochlea Reveals Organ of Corti Cytoarchitecture

Front Cell Neurosci. 2021 Aug 5:15:690953. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2021.690953. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Janani S Iyer^{1

2

3}, Richard Seist^{2

4

5}, In Seok Moon^{2

4

6}, Konstantina M Stankovic^{1

2

4

7}

Affiliations

¹ Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
² Eaton Peabody Laboratories and Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Boston, MA, United States.
³ Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.
⁴ Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
⁵ Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria.
⁶ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
⁷ Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, United States.

Abstract

Sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) is the most common sensory deficit worldwide, and it typically originates from the cochlea. Methods to visualize intracochlear cells in living people are currently lacking, limiting not only diagnostics but also therapies for SNHL. Two-photon fluorescence microscopy (TPFM) is a high-resolution optical imaging technique. Here we demonstrate that TPFM enables visualization of sensory cells and auditory nerve fibers in an unstained, non-decalcified adult human cochlea.

Keywords: cochlear neurons; hair cells; human cochlea; organ of Corti; two photon fluorescence microscopy.

Grants and funding

R01 DC015824/DC/NIDCD NIH HHS/United States