Semicircular canal radii of curvature (R) in cat, guinea pig and man.

The radii of curvature (R) of the horizontal (Rh), anterior (Ra) and posterior (Rp) semicircular canals were measured by a new technique (called ROTA) for cat, guinea pig and man. For each canal, data points from the osseous canal were rotated and plotted by computer such that the plane of the sheet of computer plot corresponded to the plane best fitting that canal. The radius of each osseous canal was determined and where necessary, the radius of the arc of data points was corrected for thickness of the absent tissue. For cat, guinea pig and man there are differences in R between canals within a labyrinth suggesting that if other things are equal there could be differences in the average mechanical sensitivity of the canals, which is consistent with physiological recordings from primary vestibular neurons in the cat. The Rs determined by ROTA are compared with Rs determined by conventional histological means.