The influence of a chronic vitamin A deficiency on the rat cochlea.

Rats were fed a vitamin-A-free diet and the cochleas of these animals were studied under the light and electron microscope. The cochlear function was tested by means of the electrocochleography. No pathologic changes could be found in the organ of Corti; the stria vascularis and the cochleas showed normal development. The recordings of the deficient rats are identical in configuration to controls, but they are shifted to higher intensities due to an otitis media found in the tested animals. These findings suggest that vitamin A does not have an important function in the inner ear.