OTOCONIA BIOGENESIS, PHYLOGENY, COMPOSITION AND FUNCTIONAL ATTRIBUTES

This work consolidates data about these interesting organic crystals o f vertebrate inner ears. It addresses 5 aspects of inner ear otoliths not completely understood to date: 1) embryological data that explains the formation of the crystals, 2) the significance of the organic and the inorganic phase of the otolith and the changing patterns of otoco nia formation along the evolutionary tree, 3) otoliths contribution fo r detecting linear acceleration, 4) the effect that altered gravity an d aminoglycosides have on the development and adult shape of the cryst als, and the evolutionary significance of a changing shape of the crys tals from primitive forms (lamprey) to high vertebrate birds and mamma ls is discussed, 5) functional attributes of the otolithic organs and morphological modifications of the otoliths by physical and chemical i nsults are presented with an extensive discussion of the most relevant literature published and available to us.