[Effect of a 6-week vitamin A-deficient diet on the sensory cells of the inner ear. Light and electron microscopic studies].

Histologic studies of the inner ear in rats with chronic vitamin A deficiency have produced contradicting results. In our own electronmicroscope investigations of the inner ear of young rats after a six week vitamin A deficit diet we found a lacking of the cuticle in the outer hair cells and a subtotally lacking of the cuticle in the inner hair cells. Furthermore, we found changes in the reticular system of the intermediate zone. These morphologic changes together with the recent findings of high concentrations of vitamin A in the corti organ support the hypothesis that the acoustic sensory receptors contain or functionally depend upon vitamin A.