Extracorporeal preservation. Organ culture of the post-natal mammalian inner ear.

Postnatal (newborn and mature) inner ear organs from CBA/CBA mouse and guinea pig were analysed concerning hair cell survival in an in vitro system. After only a few days in the artificial surroundings a transformation of hair cell characteristics occurred, in the form of either loss of sensory hairs (cochlear hair cells) or hair fusion (vestibular hair cells), although the hair cell itselt survived for a considerably longer time. Intracellular myelin figures became evident after 2--3 days in culture. However, a considerable individual variation among hair cells was observed concerning the ultrastructure of the cell at this stag in vitro. Completely normal hair cells could in rare cases be recognised after 1 week in organ culture (cochlear inner hair cells of the CBA/CBA mouse). Loss of the surface structures of the hair cells is likely to constitute an irreversible transformation not in agreement with the true hair cell characteristics.