Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, Missouri, 63110, USA
The image shows an
anatomically accurate 3-D reconstruction of the fluid spaces of the
mammalian inner ear. The upper, spiral structure is the cochlea, the
part of the ear that is responsible for hearing. The lower parts
include the vestibule and the semi-circular canals, that are
responsible for balance. We build 3-D representations of the ear into
computer models that allow us to mathematically model how applied
substances, such as drugs, disperse within the fluid and tissue
spaces of the ear.
The structures are color-coded as follows: Orange: perilymph; Blue: endolymph; Pale Green: Spiral Ligament; Dark Green: Nerve; Red: Cochlear aqueduct; Brown: Stapes; Blue-Gray: Round Window Membrane
new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and
making them see the light, but rather because its opponents
eventually die and a new generation grows up that are familiar with
not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it."
Robert F Kennedy
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Pages last updated November 2013