Abstract
The intercellular junctions of the vascular stria and spiral ligament in the human cochlea were examined by means of the freeze-fracture technique.
It appeared that the vascular stria and the spiral ligament of the human shared common anatomical characteristics with that of the guinea pig as far as the intercellular junctions are concerned and we could not find any reason not to assume that the electrophysiological nature of the vascular stria of the human is basically identical to that of the guinea pig.
The tight junctions observed at the apical portion of the marginal cell could be classified as “intermediate to tight”. The junctions observed between the basal cells were classified as “very tight”. Thus the vascular stria is barred from both endolymph and perilymphatic tissue (spiral ligament) by the tight junction.
Virtually all the component cells of the vascular stria and the spiral ligament seemed to be interconnected by gap junctions. These cells might share a common intracellular ionic environment.
