[Ultrastructural morphometric changes in spiral ganglion cells of the rat after broad band noise (author's transl)].

The comparison of ultrastructural and ultrastructural-morphometric findings in spiral ganglion cells subsequent to broad noise with 105 dB SPL over a period of 40 min demonstrates that there are morphometric changes of the cytoarchitecture of granular ganglion cells even without evident ultrastructural changes. Morphometric analyses shows a significant extension of the volume proportion of mitochondria per unit volume cytoplasm. The volume and the surface of the rough endoplasmic reticulum, the volume of the free ribosomes and the average single volume of the nucleoli increase per granular ganglion cell. The physiologic significance of these changes is discussed. The results show that changes of the cytoarchitecture of granular spiral ganglion cells are earlier detected by morphometry than by ultrastructural description.