Primary organ culture of the utricular maculae of the guinea pig inner ear in vitro

OBJECTIVE To explore condition of pri-mary organ culture of the utricular maculae of the guineapigs inner ear in vitro and establish an experimentalmodel for further research. METHODS The utricularmaculae of the guinea pigs were primarily cultured withtissue culture method in vitro. RESULTS The grow ofthe outgrowth zone of the utricular maculae presentedfibroblasts cell during 10 days. Existing of the support-ing cells and hair cells in sensory epithelium were foundby means of paraffin embedded sections on 10th day.Hair cells were damaged and supporting cells were livedin culture medium with gentamicin for 48 hours bymeans of plastic embedded mount and semi-thinsectioning. CONCLUSION Primary organ culture ofthe utricular maculae of the guinea pig inner ear in vitrois feasible. This organ culture method provide an ex-perimental model for further research on utricularmaculae.