Quantification of Stria Vascularis Thickness

hematoxylin staining was used to visualize nucleic acids of the cells in the cochlea and measure stria vascularis thickness [99 (link),101 (link)]. Harvested tissue samples were placed in 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS for 24 h, at 4 °C, decalcified in 10% EDTA for 1 week at room temperature, embedded in paraffin, sectioned on a mechanical implant microtome (Leica RM2235, Leica Microsystems, Wetzlar, Germany) at a thickness of 4 μm, and stained with hematoxylin (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA). The stained tissue sections were photographed using a slide scanner (Panoramic MIDI version 1.23, 3DHISTECH, Ltd., Budapest, Hungary) and the numbers of hematoxylin-positive cells were quantified.