A Detailed Subgross Morphometric Study on the Auditory Ossicles of the New Zealand Rabbit

Abstract

This study was designed to reveal, in detail, the features of the auditory ossicles of the New Zealand rabbit, one of the most frequently used animals in scientific researches. Heads of 10 dead adult New Zealand rabbits of both sexes weighing 2.5 +/- 0.2 kg were used in the study. The auditory ossicles were gently removed from their situs and observed. The auditory ossicles were three small bones: the malleus, the incus and the stapes. The lenticular bone seemed to be the lenticular process, as is in human beings. In general, macroanatomic features of the bones were similar to those reported in the literature. Findings in this study, however, differed greatly, especially in detail. There were statistically significant differences in the morphometric data of the features of the auditory ossicles between the right- and left-hand sides. Data from the right-hand side were significantly higher.

Morphological and morphometrical study of the auditory ossicles in chinchilla

“…The long crus is almost parallel to the handle of the malleus, being significantly longer than the short crus. This situation resembles the one described in hamster and the New Zeeland rabbit (Kurtul et al, ). There is a significant difference in terms of overall shape of the incus in case of the hamster, where the body is larger and the processes shorter.…”

“…In case of the morphology of the malleus (head, neck, three processes), the general anatomy of the ossicle is somehow similar to the literature data presented in case of donkey (Nazih, ), goat and camel (Ayres Seibel et al, ). Unlike the situation in hamster or New Zeeland rabbit (Kurtul et al, ), where the rostral process is slightly developed, in chinchilla , this process is extended, being in fact the most developed part of the malleus. Contrary to this state, the neck of the malleus is almost indistinguishable in chinchilla as in pig, rat and mouse (Hoffstetter et al, ; Mohammadpour, ) where this sector is quite elongated and clearly defined.…”

“…Measurements on the auditory ossicles were made in accordance with the data suggested by a series of authors (Gürbüz et al, ; Kurtul et al, ; Vrettakos et al, ; Wang & Gan, ), combining these data sets for each of the measured ossicles.…”

“…Anatomically, the ear consists of three distinctive sectors: the external ear (auris externa), the middle ear (auris media) and the internal ear (auris interna). Placed in the dorsal part of the tympanic cavity (cavum tympany), within the temporal bone, the petrosal part ( os temporale, pars petrosa ), the assembly of the auditory ossicles (ossicula auditus) plays an important role in the sound transmission from the tympanic membrane ( membrana tympany ) to the internal ear (vestibular fenestra‐fenestra vestibule) (Barone & Bortolami, ; Konig, ; Kurtul, Cevik, Bozkurt, & Dursun, ; Mohammadpour, , ; Waibl, Gasse, Constantinescu, Hashimoto, & Simoens, ).…”

“…Data related to the detailed anatomy of the auditory ossicles are relatively limited. A few elements were reported in case of birds (Mills, ), different rodents (Kerber & Sánchez‐Villagra, ; Kurtul et al, ; Lee, Park, Kang, & Choung, ; Li, Gao, Ding, & Salvi, ; Maier, Tröscher, & Ruf, ; Martins et al, ; Mohammadpour, , ; Şanlı, Sedat, & Oztürk, ), humans (García‐Real, Kass, Sturges, & Wisner, ; Isaacson, ), swine (Gurr, Kevenhörster, Stark, Pearson, & Dazert, ; Hoffstetter et al, ; Pracy, White, Mustafa, Smith, & Perry, ), miniature pigs (HaiJin et al, ), sheep (Ayres Seibel, Lavinsky, & Preto De Oliveira, ; Simaei, Soltanalinejad, Najafi, & Shalizar Jalali, ), chinchilla (Vrettakos, Dear, & Saunders, ; Wang & Gan, ), cat (Beck, Kilchling, & Meyer‐Lindenberg, ; Seifert et al, ), dog (Berghes, Parvu, Cucoanes, & Cuca, ) and wolf (Gürbüz et al, ), badger (Rozen‐Rechels, Peigné, Germain, & Ladevèze, ), horse (Blanke, Aupperle, Seeger, Kubick, & Schusser, ), donkey (Awal et al, ), common degu (32) or other subterranean cavimorphes (Argyle & Mason, ).…”