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DEVELOPMENT
Ear
• In the adult, the ear forms one anatomical
unit serving both hearing and equilibrium.
• In the embryo it develops from three
distinctly different parts:
1. The external ear, the sound collecting organ;
2. The middle ear, a sound conductor from the
external to the internal ear;
3. The internal ear, which converts sound waves
into nerve impulses and registers changes in
equilibrium.
Scanning electron micrograph of a mouse
embryo equivalent to approximately 28 days Region of the rhombencephalon
of human development. The otic placodes, as showing the otic placodes
shown in B, are invaginating to form the otic in a 22-day embryo.
pits (arrows). Arrowhead, second arch; H,
heart; star, mandibular prominence.
Internal Ear
• In embryos 22 days a thickening of the surface
ectoderm on each side of the rhombencephalon, is the
first indication of the developing ear.
• These thickenings, the otic placodes, invaginate
rapidly and form the otic or auditory vesicles
(otocysts).
• Each vesicle divides into;
1. Ventral component that gives rise to the saccule and
cochlear duct .
2. Dorsal component that forms the utricle, semicircular
canals, and endolymphatic duct . Together these
epithelial structures form the membranous labyrinth.
24 days 4.5 weeks
27 days
• The malleus and incus are derived from cartilage of the first pharyngeal
arch,
• The stapes is derived from that of the second arch.
• The ossicles appear during the first half of fetal life,
• they remain embedded in mesenchyme until the eighth month.
• When the ossicles are entirely free of surrounding mesenchyme, the
endodermal epithelium connects them in a mesentery-like fashion to the
wall of the cavity.
• The supporting ligaments of the ossicles develop later within these
mesenteries
• Since the malleus is derived from the first pharyngeal arch, its muscle, the
tensor tympani, is innervated by the mandibular branch of the
trigeminal nerve.
• The stapedius muscle, which is attached to the stapes, is innervated by
the facial nerve, the nerve to the second pharyngeal arch. ts of the
ossicles develop later within these mesenteries.
OSSICLES 2/2