Acta oto-laryngologica
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Acta oto-laryngologica · Jan 1998
Programmed cell death in the developing epithelium of the mouse inner ear.
Programmed cell death is as essential to development as is proliferation. Thus, the objective of this study was to elucidate the spatiotemporal involvement of programmed cell death in the development of the inner ear epithelia. Programmed cell death is seen in situ as apoptosis. ⋯ Apoptosis occurred during the early stages of development of the inner ear and took place earlier in the organs of equilibrium than in the cochlea. These periods corresponded to those of active proliferation of epithelial cells in the inner ear. Since cell-cell interactions change after the removal of neighboring cells by apoptosis, apoptosis may influence cytodifferentiation.