Cytoskeletal organization in the supporting cell of the guinea pig organ of Corti.
The rapid-freeze, deep-etch method was used to visualize the three-dimensional organization of cytoskeletons in the supporting cells of the guinea pig organ of Corti. Deep-etched replicas showed that both the head and basal portions of the pillar cell were composed of a filamentous network consisting of several kinds of fibrous elements, into which numerous microtubules and actin filaments were tightly inserted. Myosin S1-decoration showed that the main constituent element in such filamentous networks in the basal portion of the pillar cell was the actin and tiny cross-bridges interconnected the randomly oriented adjacent actin filaments.
D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000818:Animals; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005613:Freeze Etching; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D007760:Labyrinth Supporting Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008870:Microtubules / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009925:Organ of Corti / Q000648:ultrastructure*