The Organ of Corti is a structure that is found in the cochlea of the inner ear, which is a part of the auditory system responsible for hearing.
The organ of Corti is located within the scala media, it contains inner and outer hair cells with stereocilia.
The Organ of Corti is responsible for converting sound waves that enter the ear into electrical signals that are sent to the brain, where they are interpreted as sound.
The Organ of Corti contains thousands of hair cells that are arranged in a specific pattern.
These hair cells have tiny, hair-like projections called stereocilia on their surface which are responsible for converting the mechanical vibrations of sound into electrical signals.
These signals are sent to the auditory nerve fibers and then to the brain, where they are processed and interpreted as sound.
The Organ of Corti can distinguish various frequencies of sounds, which is why we are able to perceive different pitches and tones.
The function of the Organ of Corti is critical for hearing, and damage to it can lead to hearing loss or other hearing-related disorders.
Age-related hair cell degeneration is characterized by loss of stereocilia, shrinkage of hair cell soma, and reduction in outer hair cell mechanical properties, suggesting that functional decline in mechanotransduction and cochlear amplification precedes hair cell loss and contributes to age-related hearing loss.