KINOCILIA IN THE DEVELOPING STRIA VASCULARIS OF THE RAT PUP

The mammalian stria vascularis undergoes certain developmental changes in the postnatal rat. The present study was designed to examine the u ltrastructure of the stria vascularis in rat pups from immediately aft er birth to 20 days postpartum. The cochlea were removed with the anim als under xylazine (Rompun) anesthesia and were prepared for transmiss ion electron microscopy. Each of the three cell types in the stria wer e found to contain kinocilia up until 12-17 days of age. The presence of kinocilia in the intermediate and basal cells has not been previous ly described. Findings suggest that these organelles may serve a motil e and/or sensory function to assist in the maturation of cell function s, particularly ion transport, during early stages of development.