Busschers, Koen (2025) Confocal Light Microscopy to Examine Stereocilia Morphology: New Methodology and Comparative Insights. Research Project 1 (minor thesis), Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences.
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Abstract
Stereocilia, critical structures for auditory mechanotransduction located on the cochlear hair cells, are vulnerable to environmental and genetic disturbances, often leading to irreversible hearing loss. While scanning electron microscopy (SEM) remains the gold standard for analysing stereocilia morphology, its complexity and cost limit broader accessibility. This study evaluates confocal microscopy as a user-friendly alternative, in combination with AI-based analysis via Napari-VASCilia, to assess stereocilia length along the cochlea of Ansell’s mole rat (Fukomys anselli), a species with a specialized “acoustic fovea” adapted for detecting 600–1000 Hz frequencies. Confocal imaging paired with manual measurements in Imaris produced reliable stereocilia length data, supporting the hypothesis of significantly increased lengths in the acoustic fovea compared to basal regions, especially at the cochlear mid-turn (50%). However, AI-based analysis with Napari-VASCilia failed due to imaging incompatibility, highlighting the limitations of applying pretrained models to new datasets. Despite sample size and imaging limitations, our results validate confocal microscopy as a feasible alternative to SEM for morphological studies and reveal regionspecific stereocilia specialization that may reflect evolutionary adaptations in subterranean hearing. These findings support further research into cochlear functional zoning and crossspecies comparisons in sensory biology.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Research Project 1 (minor thesis)) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Pyott, S.J. and Dijk, P. van and Naber, T.H. |
| Degree programme: | Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences |
| Thesis type: | Research Project 1 (minor thesis) |
| Language: | English |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Jul 2025 10:47 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Jul 2025 10:47 |
| URI: | https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/36551 |
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