ヒト半規管壁細胞 (走査および透過電子顕微鏡的観察)

抄録

Human mature semicircular canals taken at autopsy and at operation were examined with scanning and transmission electron microscopes. The findings thus obtained are summarized as follows :
In the semicircular canal obtained at autopsy from a 30-year-old male nonsensory ciliated cells having 5060 cilia were seen sporadically in the ampulla of the horizontal canal on its canal portion side.
A labyrinthine specimen taken at operation, on the other hand, demonstrated folding of the cell membrane at the base of columnar cells lining the wall of that part of the canal portion close to the ampulla. Distal to this area, wall cells of the canal portion became progressively flattened and their intracytoplasmic organelles were less and less abundant. Outside these cells which were disposed in a layer and faced the endolymphatic space there were dense filaments and fibrocytes, with a unilayered basement membrane interposed.
Being poor in capillary network, the canal portion was supposed not to be concerned with the production of endolymph but to play a role in the maintenance of the composition of endo-and perilymph.