The spiral (cochlear) ganglion is a group of neuron cell bodies in the modiolus, the conical central axis of the

cochlea The cochlea is the part of the inner ear involved in hearing. It is a spiral-shaped cavity in the bony labyrinth, in humans making 2.75 turns around its axis, the modiolus. A core component of the cochlea is the Organ of Corti, the sensory org ...

. These bipolar neurons innervate the

hair cell Hair cells are the sensory receptors of both the auditory system and the vestibular system in the ears of all vertebrates, and in the lateral line organ of fishes. Through mechanotransduction, hair cells detect movement in their environment ...

s of the

organ of Corti The organ of Corti, or spiral organ, is the receptor organ for hearing and is located in the mammalian cochlea. This highly varied strip of epithelial cells allows for transduction of auditory signals into nerve impulses' action potential. Transd ...

. They project their axons to the

ventral Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

and dorsal cochlear nuclei as the

cochlear nerve The cochlear nerve (also auditory nerve or acoustic nerve) is one of two parts of the vestibulocochlear nerve, a cranial nerve present in amniotes, the other part being the vestibular nerve. The cochlear nerve carries auditory sensory information ...

, a branch of the

vestibulocochlear nerve The vestibulocochlear nerve or auditory vestibular nerve, also known as the eighth cranial nerve, cranial nerve VIII, or simply CN VIII, is a cranial nerve that transmits sound and equilibrium (balance) information from the inner ear to the br ...

(CN VIII).

Structure

Neurons A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. ...

whose cell bodies lie in the spiral ganglion are strung along the bony core of the cochlea, and send fibers (

axon An axon (from Greek ἄξων ''áxōn'', axis), or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences), is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action ...

s) into the

central nervous system The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all p ...

(CNS). These bipolar neurons are the first neurons in the

auditory system The auditory system is the sensory system for the sense of hearing. It includes both the sensory organs (the ears) and the auditory parts of the sensory system. System overview The outer ear funnels sound vibrations to the eardrum, increasin ...

to fire an action potential, and supply all of the brain's auditory input. Their

dendrites Dendrites (from Greek δένδρον ''déndron'', "tree"), also dendrons, are branched protoplasmic extensions of a nerve cell that propagate the electrochemical stimulation received from other neural cells to the cell body, or soma, of the ...

make synaptic contact with the base of

s, and their axons are bundled together to form the auditory portion of

eighth cranial nerve The vestibulocochlear nerve or auditory vestibular nerve, also known as the eighth cranial nerve, cranial nerve VIII, or simply CN VIII, is a cranial nerve that transmits sound and equilibrium (balance) information from the inner ear to the b ...

. The number of neurons in the spiral ganglion is estimated to be about 35,000–50,000. Two apparent subtypes of spiral ganglion cells exist. Type I spiral ganglion cells comprise the vast majority of spiral ganglion cells (90-95% in cats and 88% in humans), and exclusively innervate the inner hair cells. They are myelinated, bipolar neurons. Type II spiral ganglion cells make up the remainder. In contrast to Type I cells, they are unipolar and unmyelinated in most mammals. They innervate the outer hair cells, with each Type II neuron sampling many (15-20) outer hair cells. In addition, outer hair cells form reciprocal synapses onto Type II spiral ganglion cells, suggesting that the Type II cells have both afferent and efferent roles.

Development

The rudiment of the

appears about the end of the third week as a group of ganglion cells closely applied to the cephalic edge of the auditory vesicle. The ganglion gradually splits into two parts, the

vestibular ganglion The vestibular ganglion (also called Scarpa's ganglion) is the ganglion of the vestibular nerve. It is located inside the internal auditory meatus. The ganglion contains the cell bodies of bipolar neurons whose peripheral processes form synapti ...

and the spiral ganglion. The axons of neurons in the spiral ganglion travel to the

brainstem The brainstem (or brain stem) is the posterior stalk-like part of the brain that connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord. In the human brain the brainstem is composed of the midbrain, the pons, and the medulla oblongata. The midbrain is ...

, forming the

Gallery

file:Gray928.png, Diagrammatic longitudinal section of the cochlea file:Organ of corti.svg,

Organ of corti The organ of Corti, or spiral organ, is the receptor organ for hearing and is located in the mammalian cochlea. This highly varied strip of epithelial cells allows for transduction of auditory signals into nerve impulses' action potential. Transd ...

References

External links

Slide and overview at anatomy.dal.ca

Slide at cytochemistry.net

Image
at University of New England, Maine {{Authority control Auditory system Sensory ganglia Vestibulocochlear nerve