The most detailed 3D view of the internal structure of the inner ear has been revealed by scientists who used a new imaging technique.

The Australian team, including Dr Allan Jones at the University of Sydney's Key Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, will report its findings in the journal Acta Oto-Laryngologica.

The scientists revealed the detailed structure of the inner ear of a guinea pig, using a new method called x-ray microtomography.

"It's CT [computed tomography] scanning for microscopy, basically a CT scanner for a microscope," Dr Jones said.

Like hospital CT scanning, the method images internal structures in 3D using x-rays.

Structures like bones absorb more x-rays and are more visible than those that absorb less.

The 3D image is built up by taking a series of 'slices' of the solid object.

But x-ray microtomography can take many more slices that a hospital CT scanner.

This provides much higher resolution, allowing scientists to image the delicately thin structures of the inner ear.

The image the scientists generated shows the stapes, the saccular macula, and the utricular macula.

It also shows the coils of the cochlea and the fluid-filled semicircular canals that help an animal keep balance.

"This structure is actually embedded in the most dense bone in the body, the temporal bone, and normal hospital medical CT doesn't have enough resolution to see these," Dr Jones said...