Abstract
Studies of the inner ear have been extended to the level of the single cells, and physiological studies, in particular, have advanced to the use of isolated inner ear living cells: i.e., outer hair cells (OHCs), inner hair cells (IHCs), Deiter's cells, and Hensen's cells. Here, we describe a rapid isolation technique for inner ear cells from the guinea-pig cochlea. Some proteolytic enzymes used for the isolation were found to affect the properties of the K currents in the isolated IHCs. While extracellular application of sodium salicylate induced an acute change in the shape of the isolated OHCs. Dexamethasone suppressed the salicylate-induced morphological changes of the cells. We describe the device used to perfuse the patch electrode for exchanging the intracellular medium of the isolated cells.
