Vascular Inner Ear Partition:A Concept for Some Forms of Sensorineural Hearing Loss and Vertigo

Abstract

The results of a series of scanning electron microscopical studies were used to construct a model for the vascular pathways in the inner ear. Corrosion cast preparations of the vessels of the inner ear of the adult rat were used in this study. The inner ear is, like a hand, an end organ containing four sense organs (cochlea, saccule, utricle and the cristae ampullaris). All these specific inner ear structures have their own vascular supply. We have developed a blood flow diagram of the inner ear. This model was used for a classification of different types of ischemia in the inner ear and forms a concept for some forms of sensorineural hearing loss and vertigo. Four types of inner ear ischemia are proposed. In type I (a or b) of inner ear ischemia only the vessels of the cochlea are involved resulting in two types of hearing loss without vertigo. Type II is characterized by ischemia of a part of the cochlea and a part of the vestibular system. In type III (a or b) only the vestibular system is involved, while in type IV no blood circulation will be present in the inner ear resulting in total deafness and severe vertigo. Inner ear partition at ultramicroscopical level of these structures may be possible in the future and new imaging techniques will probably support the vascular schematic model presented in this study.

Susceptibility of the Inner Ear Structure to Shunt-Related Decompression Sickness

“…It divides into two cochleo-vestibular arteries -the anterior vestibular artery and the vestibular-cochlear artery. The anterior vestibular artery supplies the lateral and anterior ampullae, and the vestibular-cochlear artery supplies the posterior ampulla and the cochlea ( 16 ). The basilar artery also supplies the brainstem and branches into the superior cerebellar artery and the posterior cerebral artery.…”

Correlation between afferent rearrangements and behavioral deficits after local excitotoxic insult in the mammalian vestibule: an animal model of vertigo symptoms?

“…Conversely, ischemia has been demonstrated to act as a potential source of damage (Jiang and Umemura, 1993; Kitamura and Berreby, 1983; Nario et al, 1997; Oas and Baloh, 1992; Ritter and Veit, 1977; Rubinstein et al, 1988; Tange, 1998). Better protection and repair might also occur in the vestibular end organs because major differences in the branching patterns of connections exist between the sensory organs.…”

Audiometric Patterns in Ototoxicity of Intra-Arterial Cisplatin Chemoradiation in Patients with Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer

“…Firstly, a differential drug access to and distribution within the cochlea. Scanning electron microscope studies of the cochlea of the rat after plastic injection into the vascular system showed the arteria cochlearis communis to divide into the arteria cochlea propria (to the apex cochlea) and the arteria vestibularis communis and ramus cochlearis (to the basis cochlea) [Tange, 1998]. This would suggest a watershed area near the middle of the cochlea that, according to the anatomical frequency scale [Schuknecht, 1993], represents the high frequency (2 kHz) perception area.…”