The site of involvement of hypertension within the cochlea. A comparative study of normotensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats.

The function and morphology of the cochlea of the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) were examined and compared with the age-paired normotensive Wistar Kyoto rat (WKY). Electro- cochleographic study revealed that the function of the cochlea in the SHR declined with increasing age to a greater extent than that of WKY. Electronmicroscopic study revealed that the primary site of the cochlear deterioration of the SHR was the vascular stria, followed by the organ of Corti. Some hypotheses to explain this phenomenon are proposed for further study.