Clinical and Experimental Otorhinolaryngology (May 2020)

Extratympanic Observation of Middle and Inner Ear Structures in Rodents Using Optical Coherence Tomography

  • Se-Joon Oh,
  • Il-Woo Lee,
  • Soo-Geun Wang,
  • Soo-Keun Kong,
  • Hong-Ki Kim,
  • Eui-Kyung Goh

DOI
https://doi.org/10.21053/ceo.2019.00766
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 2
pp. 106 – 112

Abstract

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Objectives This study aimed to investigate whether optical coherence tomography (OCT) provides useful information about the microstructures of the middle and inner ear via extratympanic approach and thereby could be utilized as an alternative diagnostic technology in ear imaging. Methods Five rats and mice were included, and the swept-source OCT system was applied to confirm the extent of visibility of the middle and inner ear and measure the length or thickness of the microstructures in the ear. The cochlea was subsequently dissected following OCT and histologically evaluated to compare with the OCT images. Results The middle ear microstructures such as ossicles, stapedial artery and oval window through the tympanic membrane with the OCT could be confirmed in both rats and mice. It was also possible to obtain the inner ear images such as each compartment of the cochlea in the mice, but the bone covering bulla needed to be removed to visualize the inner ear structures in the rats which had thicker bulla. The bony thickness covering the cochlea could be measured, which showed no significant differences between OCT and histologic image at all turns of cochlea. Conclusion OCT has been shown a promising technology to assess real-time middle and inner ear microstructures noninvasively with a high-resolution in the animal model. Therefore, OCT could be utilized to provide additional diagnostic information about the diseases of the middle and inner ear.

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