Supporting cell cytoskeleton during development of the organ of Corti in rat

The mammalian auditory organ, the organ of Corti (OC), is composed of mechanosensory hair cells and nonsensory supporting cell types. Based on their morphology and physiology, a least four types of supporting cells can be identified in the OC: inner pillar cell, outer pillar cell, phalangeal cell and Deiter’s cells. All supporting cells are highly specialized cells that are characterized by the presence of bundled microtubules with 15 protofilaments instead of 13. Using antibobies against different proteins of cytoskeleton (tubulin, cutokeratin and vimentin), we investigated by confocal microscopy the setting up of supporting cells' cytoskeleton during the differentiation of the OC in art from the embryonic day 18 (E18) to the postnatal 15 (P15). We showed that the inner pillar cells are labelled with an anti-beta IV tubulin from P0. Using an antibody to cytokeratin, a labelling appeared in Deiters' cells from E22. We also revealed that during the development of the OC, supporting cells were labelled with an anti-vimentin antibody from P0.