Middle-Ear Mucosa in Newborn Infants

To ascertain whether the mucous glands constitute a normal or abnormal component of the mucous membrane in the osseous Eustachian tube and middle ear, 28 prematures and newborn infants were studied. The entire mucous membrane from the Eustachian tube and middle ear was removed and stained by the PAS-alcian blue whole mount method. No mucous glands were found in the osseous tube or middle ear, although the conditions for their formation were present, there being goblet cells and stratified columnar epithelium in the osseous tube and anterior part of the middle ear. Thus, the mucous glands do not form a normal component of the middle ear mucosa, although they may be demonstrated in ears which are clinically quite normal. Minor and short lasting catarrhal affections of the tubal and middle ear mucosa — Which occur in everyone during childhood or later without leaving any other sequelae in the middle ear — may lead to the formation of a few glands. As long as only a few glands are present, the production of mucus is negligible and does not entail clinical symptoms. In chronic middle ear diseases the density of glands is relatively high, and the mucus or mucus-admixed discharge occurring in these diseases is an active product of the mucous glands and goblet cells.