Micro-CT scanning
In order to assess the 3D structure and integrity of the inner ear, cochleae samples from wild-type and heterozygous pigs at postnatal day 7 were dissected and fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde and scanned by a micro-CT system (Quantum FX, Perkin Elmer). The parameters were as following: 90 kV, 160 µA, 24 mm of field of view, and 4.5 min of duration. The structure of the inner ear was analyzed and reconstructed using Amira 2.0 software.