The importance of early fixation in preservation of human cochlear and vestibular sensory hair bundles

Abstract

Human labyrinths were fixed with glutaraldehyde as soon as possible and certainly within 15 min of clinically confirmed death. By following this protocol, we have obtained excellent preservation of human material comparable to the best that we were able to obtain with animal tissues. Structural features that are indicative of good fixation in animal hair bundles, namely well-defined lateral cross-hnks, upward pointing tip links and the 'granular' appearance of the surface membrane of stereocilia are confirmed for human hair cells. Our results show that excellent preservation of human hair bundles is critically dependent upon early fixation. © 1990 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted.