Auditory receptor of the red-eared turtle: II. Afferent and efferent synapses and innervation patterns.

Innervation patterns in the auditory receptor of the red-eared turtle were reconstructed from serial ultrathin sections. Four locations were studied, including three on the basilar membrane and one on the basal limbus. In that area of the papilla located above the apical end of the basilar membrane most cells were innervated by single afferent fibers which, in turn, supplied as many as three cells. Although afferents in the midmembrane area of the papilla supplied fewer cells, the innervation pattern was similar in other respects to that in the apical area including an abundance of efferent synapses on afferents. In contrast, hair cells in the basal membrane area were contacted by two afferent fibers and had five times as many afferent synapses as observed previously. Here, each afferent made twice as many synapses as fibers in the previous two areas and supplied one or two hair cells but received no efferent synapses. In the basal limbus area, each hair cell was contacted by as many as eight afferents and each afferent supplied as many as seven hair cells. The significance of these innervation patterns is discussed in the light of structural information obtained from other vertebrate auditory receptors and in the light of available functional information derived from the turtle papilla.