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Quantitative assessment of cochlear and vestibular ganglion neurons in temporal bones with chronic otitis media

  • Otology
  • Published:
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

In this study, we aimed to determine whether or not COM leads to loss of spiral and Scarpa ganglion neurons.

Methods

From the human temporal bone (HTB) collection at the University of Minnesota we selected human temporal bones with COM, defined as the presence of clinically intractable tissue abnormalities in the middle ear (cholesteatoma, perforation of the eardrum, granulation tissue, fibrosis, tympanosclerosis, and cholesterol granuloma). We also selected HTBs from donors with no ear diseases as controls. We quantitatively analyzed the number of spiral and Scarpa ganglion cells and compared the results obtained in the control and study groups.

Results

In both COM and control groups we observed a significant negative correlation between age and number of both spiral (R = -0.632; P < 0.001; 95% CI − 0.766 to − 0.434) and Scarpa ganglion (R = − 0.404; P = 0.008; 95% CI − 0.636 to − 0.051) cells. We did not find any significant differences in the number of spiral ganglion cells (in total or per segment) or in the density of Scarpa ganglion cells (in each vestibular nerve or both) in the COM group as compared with controls (P > 0.05).

Conclusions and relevance

Our results did not demonstrate significant loss of cochlear or vestibular peripheral ganglion neuron loss in HTBs with COM as compared with controls.

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Acknowledgements

We thank our supporters: the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES—Brazil) (Finance code: 001), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the NIH (Grant No. UG3NS107688), the International Hearing Foundation, the 5 M Lions International, and the Starkey Foundation.

Funding

RCM received a scholarship from the “Coordenação de aperfeiçoamento pessoal de nível superior” (CAPES) (Finance code: 001). The research reported in this manuscript was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the NIH (UG3NS107688), the International Hearing Foundation, the 5 M Lions International, and the Starkey Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Universidade Federal de São Paulo/Escola Paulista de Medicina (UNIFESP/EPM), R dos Otonis, 700 – piso superior – Vila Clementino, São Paulo, SP, 04037-004, Brazil

    Rafael da Costa Monsanto & Norma de Oliveira Penido

  2. Department of Otolaryngology, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan

    Mio Uchiyama

  3. Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Mio Uchiyama, Patricia Schachern, Michael M. Paparella & Sebahattin Cureoglu

  4. Paparella Ear Head and Neck Institute, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Michael M. Paparella

Authors
  1. Rafael da Costa Monsanto
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  2. Norma de Oliveira Penido
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  3. Mio Uchiyama
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  4. Patricia Schachern
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  5. Michael M. Paparella
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  6. Sebahattin Cureoglu
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Contributions

All authors performed similar contributions and were involved in all steps of the manuscript production. RCM, NOP and MU performed the literature review, analyzed the human temporal bones and wrote the final version of the manuscript. PS, MMP, and SC were the intellectual authors of the work, supervised the collection of data, analyzed the results and critically reviewed the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rafael da Costa Monsanto.

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Conflicts of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The Institutional Review Board of the University of Minnesota (0206M26181) and Universidade Federal de São Paulo/Escola Paulista de Medicina (UNIFESP/EPM) (1.751.916) approved this study.

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Monsanto, R.C., Penido, N.O., Uchiyama, M. et al. Quantitative assessment of cochlear and vestibular ganglion neurons in temporal bones with chronic otitis media. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 278, 331–338 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-020-06094-5

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