Mechanosensory hair cells are the receptor cells of the inner ear. The best-characterized in vitro model system of mature mammalian hair cells utilizes organ cultures of utricles from adult mice. We present the dissection of the adult mouse utricle, and we demonstrate adenovirus-mediated infection of supporting cells in cultured utricles.
Brandon, C. S., Voelkel-Johnson, C., May, L. A., Cunningham, L. L. Dissection of Adult Mouse Utricle and Adenovirus-mediated Supporting-cell Infection. J. Vis. Exp. (61), e3734, doi:10.3791/3734 (2012).