Morphology of the rat cochlear primary afferents during prenatal development: a Cajal's reduced silver and rapid Golgi study.

In this study, we analyse the process of spatial organisation of the cochlear root related to the morphological and topographical changes in the CN during the prenatal development of Wistar rats, placing special emphasis on aspects of the latero-medial distribution of the cochlear afferents. A total of 35 embryos from 8 Wistar rats was employed, corresponding to embryonic days 14, 16, 18 and 20. Twenty of these embryos were studied by the Cajal's reduced silver stain and 15 by the rapid Golgi method (osmium dichromate method). The otocyst, the vestibulo-cochlear ganglion and vestibulo-cochlear nerve were first observed at embryonic Day 14 (E14). At E16, a sharp separation between the cochlear and vestibular roots was distinguished. The final position of the primary afferents and their main branches (anterior and posterior) in the CN was observed at E18 and E20, when the total number of cochlear turns had been formed. The cochlear afferents coming from the apical coil, the last to be incorporated into the cochlear root, project their posterior branches at the bifurcation towards more medial portions of the PVCN and their anterior branches towards the more lateral regions of the AVCN.