Abstract
The development of the mammalian cochlea is a complex process involving several intersecting signaling pathways to ultimately generate its highly organized cellular architecture. In humans, and in the mouse, there is one row of inner hair cells aligned next to three rows of outer hair cells. The support cells intercalate between the hair cells to create a cellular mosaic across the organ of Corti (OC). Organotypic culture of the cochlea is a valuable technique for investigating the early stages of OC development. Cultures can be established at proliferative stages and maintained in vitro until cellular differentiation commences. It is straightforward to monitor differentiation in response to perturbations of key signaling pathways using pharmacological agents. While postnatal cochlea organ cultures have already been adapted for in vitro studies, it is more challenging to establish cultures at early embryonic stages due to the small size of the organ primordium. The protocol described in this chapter is permissive for all stages of development from E12 cochleas to day 5 neonatal murine cochleas, allowing culture survival up to 2 weeks in vitro.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank the members of the Fekete lab for helpful suggestions included in the protocol. Work in the Fekete lab using this culture technique is funded by NIH/NIDCD grant R01 DC002756.
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Munnamalai, V., Fekete, D.M. (2016). Organotypic Culture of the Mouse Cochlea from Embryonic Day 12 to the Neonate. In: Sokolowski, B. (eds) Auditory and Vestibular Research. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1427. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3615-1_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3615-1_17
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Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
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Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-3615-1
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