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Cross-section through the spiral organ of Corti at greater magnification, showing position of the hair cells on the basement membrane. The organ of Corti is located in the scala media of the cochlea of the inner ear between the vestibular duct and the tympanic duct and is composed of mechanosensory cells, known as hair cells. [2]
It is a spiral-shaped cavity in the bony labyrinth, in humans making 2.75 turns around its axis, the modiolus. [2] [3] A core component of the cochlea is the organ of Corti, the sensory organ of hearing, which is distributed along the partition separating the fluid chambers in the coiled tapered tube of the cochlea.
The stria vascularis produces endolymph for the scala media, one of the three fluid-filled compartments of the cochlea. [4] This maintains the ion balance of the endolymph that surround inner hair cells and outer hair cells of the organ of Corti. [4]
The cochlear duct (a.k.a. the scala media) is an endolymph filled cavity inside the cochlea, located between the tympanic duct and the vestibular duct, separated by the basilar membrane and the vestibular membrane (Reissner's membrane) respectively.
The organ of Corti is located in this duct on the basilar membrane, and transforms mechanical waves to electric signals in neurons. The other two sections are known as the scala tympani and the scala vestibuli. These are located within the bony labyrinth, which is filled with fluid called perilymph, similar in composition to cerebrospinal fluid.
In mammals, the auditory hair cells are located within the spiral organ of Corti on the thin basilar membrane in the cochlea of the inner ear. They derive their name from the tufts of stereocilia called hair bundles that protrude from the apical surface of the cell into the fluid-filled cochlear duct .
The basilar membrane is a pseudo-resonant structure [1] that, like the strings on an instrument, varies in width and stiffness. But unlike the parallel strings of a guitar, the basilar membrane is not a discrete set of resonant structures, but a single structure with varying width, stiffness, mass, damping, and duct dimensions along its length.
Section through the spiral organ of Corti, magnified. The stereocilia are the "hairs" sticking out of the tops of the inner and outer hair cells.. As acoustic sensors in mammals, stereocilia are lined up in the organ of Corti within the cochlea of the inner ear.