[Electron microscopic investigation of connective tissue in vestibular ganglion and nerve in morbus Menière].

Vestibular ganglia of 17 patients with Menière's disease, obtained by transtemporal or translabyrinthine neurectomy, were studied by electron microscopy. Three ganglia removed because of other disease and four ganglia of normal ears taken post mortem served as controls. The neuronal fibrous tissue of Menière cases showed without exception pathologic changes of various extent. The amount of collagen was increased, whereby different fiber diameters were observed as well as changes in the periodicity of cross banding. Signs of continuing collagen formation were found: active fibroblasts and an increased number of isolated Schwann cells without axons, showing deerhorn-like ramifications which enveloped collagen bundles. The blood vessels were frequently surrounded by multiple basal membranes and broad bands of homogenous matrix. The pericytes were either necrotic or nonexistent. The endothelial cell cytoplasma was usually not in an active state. Sometimes it seemed to be autolytic. The pinocytotic activity was strikingly diminished. These qualitative changes of the interstitial tissue might point to a local pathologic event in the region of the vestibular nerve and ganglion.