Micaletti Fabrice, Simier Victoire, Fouan Damien, Cottier Jean-Philippe, Galvin J John, Escoffre Jean-Michel, Bakhos David
ENT Department, University Hospital Center of Tours, 2 Boulevard Tonnellé, 37044, Tours, France.
Faculty of Medicine, University of Tours, 10 Boulevard Tonnellé, 37044, Tours, France.
J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2025 Jul 18. doi: 10.1007/s10162-025-01002-2.
In preclinical research, animals are used to perform clinical experiments. The use of large animals with human-like anatomies and structural size appears to be essential. For auditory function research, we needed to identify an animal model whose dimensions are close to those of the human inner ear for future research. In the present study, we investigated measurements of the human and sheep inner ear using 3 T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to evaluate the suitability of a sheep model for studying the inner ear.
Inner ears were compared between 8 ears from 4 normal humans (women) and 8 ears from 4 normal sheep (female). Cranial MRI of both species' cochleae were acquired and analyzed, with specific measurements for key anatomical features, including the cochlea length and width, the length and width of the inner auditory canal, the number of spiral turns of the cochlea and the cochlea volume. The size ratios between sheep and human cochlear structures were calculated and compared.
Overall cochlear dimensions of the sheep were approximately 2/3 that of human cochleae across most measurements, except for the internal auditory canal. The internal auditory canal of the sheep was 1/3 of the size of that in humans. The number of spiral turns in the cochlea was equivalent between the two species.
Given the proportionally similar dimensions to humans, the sheep cochlea appears to be a promising model for inner ear research, specifically to develop pathological models, to study the pathophysiological mechanisms of inner ear diseases, and/or to improve treatment with implantable prostheses.
在临床前研究中，动物被用于进行临床试验。使用具有类似人类解剖结构和大小的大型动物似乎至关重要。对于听觉功能研究，我们需要确定一种动物模型，其尺寸与人类内耳相近，以便未来进行研究。在本研究中，我们使用3T磁共振成像（MRI）对人类和绵羊内耳进行测量，以评估绵羊模型用于内耳研究的适用性。
比较了4名正常人类（女性）的8只耳朵和4只正常绵羊（雌性）的8只耳朵的内耳。获取并分析了两个物种耳蜗的头颅MRI，对关键解剖特征进行了特定测量，包括耳蜗长度和宽度、内耳道长度和宽度、耳蜗螺旋圈数以及耳蜗体积。计算并比较了绵羊和人类耳蜗结构之间的尺寸比例。
在大多数测量中，绵羊的总体耳蜗尺寸约为人类耳蜗的2/3，但内耳道除外。绵羊的内耳道大小是人类的1/3。两个物种耳蜗的螺旋圈数相当。
鉴于与人类的尺寸比例相似，绵羊耳蜗似乎是内耳研究的一个有前途的模型，特别是用于开发病理模型、研究内耳疾病的病理生理机制和/或改进植入式假体的治疗。
