title: Development of apical-surface structures of mouse otic placode.
abstract: In 8.0 gestation-day embryos, a central cilium and microvilli were present on the apical surface of the cells of the presumptive otic placode and other ectoderm regions as well. The cilium at this stage lacked a central pair of fibres and was regarded as a primitive cilium with 9+0 composition. The microvilli gained in length and density of distribution as soon as the otic placode began to invaginate in 8.5-d. embryos. With further development in 9.5-11.0-d. embryos, they took on a regular distribution pattern. Narrowing and concomitant bulging out appeared in the cells along the neck of the otic invagination in 8.5-d. embryos. Marked regional differences also occurred in the apical-surface structures of the cells, particularly in the relatively more advanced form of the embryos. Kinocilia of the adult vestibular sensory cells were found to lack a continuous central pair of fibres, resembling the apical cilia of the otic placode. This finding seems to suggest that a vestibular kinocilium represents a direct descendant from the primordial cilium, which generally emerges from the primordial ectodermal cells and is entirely lost from the keratinizing ectoderm in the later development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tonosaki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takasaka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007758:Ear, Inner / Q000196:embryology*; D004475:Ectoderm / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000196:embryology; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008871:Microvilli / Q000648:ultrastructure