Loss of spiral ganglion neurons in mice infected in newborn period with MCMV.

<p>Mice were sacrificed at various postnatal days (PNd) 7, 11, and 30 as described in the Material and Methods. For each time point, cochlea were removed and placed in 4% paraformaldehyde, decalcified and embedded in paraffin as described in Materials and Methods. Sections were stained with anti-Tuji 1 antibodies to detect neurons followed by horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated second antibody and development with diaminobenzidine (brown). Cresyl violet (CV) was used as counterstain. Digitalized images, of the inner ear from each individual tsection (2 per cochlea) were imported into the <i>B-Cell Image</i> program. Spiral ganglion cell (SGC) densities were calculated in infected animals (4 mice per time point) and mock infected animals (3 mice per time point) by determining the number of spiral ganglion neurons followed by normalization to the area of Rosenthal’s canal in each section to provide the spiral ganglion neuron density (cells/mm²). Spiral ganglion neuron densities in the basal, mid and apical turns (I, II, III) of the cochlea are presented as the mean number of neuron density with error bars demarcating SEM (<b>**</b> indicates significant differences p<0.0022, and *** p<0.001 by Mann-Whitney).