中文摘要：

大鼠被广泛应用于内耳科学研究,其内耳膜迷路取材和观察对评估内耳感觉上皮的组织形态学改变和病理学改变以及分子生物学改变有着不可或缺的重要意义。由于大鼠内耳结构精巧复杂,如何完整取出内耳膜迷路一直是相关研究的难点之一。为促进同道间交流并为初学者提供经验,本文在详细介绍大鼠内耳的解剖结构的同时还点评部分与其他哺乳类实验动物内耳结构的异同之处,并在组织学层面讨论了耳蜗和前庭感受器解剖结构的生理学意义。本文在介绍大鼠内耳解剖结构的基础上,进一步讲解了两种不同的内耳膜迷路取材技术并强调某些关键步骤的操作体会和技巧。

英文摘要：

Rats are widely used in inner ear research. Harvest and examination of inner ear membranous labyrinth are critical steps in assessing morphology and pathology, as well as molecular biology, of inner ear sensory epithelia. Because of the exquisite structure of the inner ear in rats, micro-dissection of the membranous labyrinth has been one of the most difficult parts in related studies. To share our experiences, we thoroughly described structures of the rat inner ear, and briefly comment- ed on the differences from and similarities with other experimental animal species. We further discussed physiological func- tions of each structure in the inner ear. Based on these unique structures of the rat inner ear, we explained two different dissec- tion techniques, with emphases on some key steps.