Quantification of human spiral ganglion cells by serial section reconstruction and segmental density estimates.

Spiral ganglion cell populations were determined for six normal adults using two methods, 1) graphic reconstruction to calculate total segmental spiral ganglion counts, and 2) measurement of spiral ganglion cell density for given cochlear segments. Such data can be used to evaluate possible loss of spiral ganglion cell populations in pathologic human specimens. The method of segmental density calculation will be particularly useful when serial sections of the entire spiral ganglion are not available.