Morphometry of Fat Tissue of the Human Tensor Tympani Muscle

Abstract

Human temporal bones from 131 ears of 92 subjects were sectioned horizontally to measure the area of the tensor tympani muscles and related fat tissues.
Under one year of age, the amount of fat tissue of the tensor tympani muscle was slight in ears. After one year of age, however, the ratio of the area of fat tissue to the area of tensor tympani muscle continued to increase with age.
Ears of patients under 10 years of age were examined in detail. There was even a very scant amount of fat tissue in a fetus at 36 weeks gestation and after 2 years of age the quantity of fat tissue increased rapidly. The major areas where fat tissue initially appeared were between the tensor tympani muscle and the bony semicanal.
The quantity of fat tissue of the tensor tympani muscle was not related to the obesity of the particular individual.
From these findings, the fat tissue of the tensor tympani muscle was considered to be fatty degeneration with advancing age, as well as the development of yielding tissue in young persons to facilitate contraction of the muscle within the bony semicanal.