title: Scanning thin-sheet laser imaging microscopy elucidates details on mouse ear development.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The mammalian inner ear is transformed from a flat placode into a three-dimensional (3D) structure with six sensory epithelia that allow for the perception of sound and both linear and angular acceleration. While hearing and balance problems are typically considered to be adult onset diseases, they may arise as a developmental perturbation to the developing ear. Future prevention of hearing or balance loss requires an understanding of how closely genetic mutations in model organisms reflect the human case, necessitating an objective multidimensional comparison of mouse ears with human ears that have comparable mutations in the same gene.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Here, we present improved 3D analyses of normal murine ears during embryonic development using optical sections obtained through Thin-Sheet Laser Imaging Microscopy. We chronicle the transformation of an undifferentiated otic vesicle between mouse embryonic day 11.5 to a fully differentiated inner ear at postnatal day 15.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our analysis of ear development provides new insights into ear development, enables unique perspectives into the complex development of the ear, and allows for the first full quantification of volumetric and linear aspects of ear growth. Our data provide the framework for future analysis of mutant phenotypes that are currently under-appreciated using only two dimensional renderings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA. benjamin-kopecky@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kopecky
authors.forename: Shane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Santi
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fritzsch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003051:Cochlea / Q000196:embryology / Q000294:innervation / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007758:Ear, Inner / Q000196:embryology* / Q000294:innervation / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods; D009024:Morphogenesis