The Effect of the Acoustic Nerve Chronic Electric Stimulation upon the Guinea Pig Cochlear Nucleus Development

Abstract

14 newborn guinea pigs have been deafened three days after birth by bilateral destruction of the organ of Corti, and among them 8 have been supplied with a chronic auditory electric stimulation by means of an intracochlear implanted electrode. The histological study and the anatomical reconstructions of these animals' cochlear nuclei demonstrate that this chronic stimulation prevents, at least partially, these auditory pathway medullary formations from atrophy due to the cochlear destruction.