[Morphological evaluation of the organ of Corti of guinea pigs submitted to acoustic trauma. II. Correlations of depth and surface lesions]

Abstract

Adult guinea pigs (250-500 g) were exposed to a chronic wide-band noise, at intensities ranging from 117 to 133 dB(A) at different times. While the first part of this paper concentrated on the surface study of the lesions produced by noise, this second part describes to correlating deep structural damage, based on the study of semi-thin and ultra-thin sections in the same specimen. Finally, a general discussion is presented with respect to the lesions described, both in so far as their specific characteristics as well as the possible mechanisms of damage which determine their formation.