抄録
In this paper the author studied experimentally to know what histologicl change will occur on auditory organs in time of fatigue and weakness of body caused by hunger.
The animals used in this experiment are guinea-pig and rabbits that were exposed to hunger without giving any food, that is, guinea-pig for 2 to 5 days, rabbits for 3 to 14 days, and those which had been imperfectly fed or given very little food were guinea-pig for 5 to 15 days, rabbits for 7 to 24 days. After these days had -passed the vital fixation are applied. I got following result by examining auditory organs hislologically, applying several kinds of dyeing:
1) By hunger, guinea-pig and rabbits receive certain injury on auditory organ clinically, and patho-histologically.
2) There are some differences in these injuries according to kinds of animals, each individual nature, and age.
3) In studying auditory organs histologically using guinea-pig or rabbits, it is necessary to consider the effect of hunger from the point of histology, when the bodily weight of the animals decreased more than 20% by hunger.
4) When the animals suffer from huuger and show the signs of fatigue and weakness of body, they remarkably exhibit dullness of reflex of auricle movement against sound.
5) The number and duration of nystagnius after turning does not show remarkable change by hunger, only it diminishes a little at the latter part during starvation.
6) Histological change of auditory organs caused by hunger depends chiefly on degenerative atrophy in auditory nerve and endoapparatus; the change of spiral ganglion cells and hair cell in the Corti's organ is remarkably seen, but that of cochlear nerve fibre is comparatively slight.
7) Histological changes of endoapparatus of cochlear labyrinth are seen, not in some definite winding of the labyrinth but throughout whole windings.
8) Vestibular labyrinth as compared with cochlear labyrinth is rather slow and slight in causing histological change.
