Terminology Service for NFDI4Health

auditory ossicle bone

Go to external page http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/UBERON_0001686


One of 3 small bones contained within the middle ear space and serve to transmit sounds from the air to the fluid-filled labyrinth. The absence of the auditory ossicles would constitute a moderate-to-severe hearing loss. The term 'ossicles' literally means 'tiny bones' and commonly refers to the auditory ossicles, though the term may refer to any small bone throughout the body. [WP,unvetted]. [ https://github.com/obophenotype/uberon/issues/91 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_ossicle ]

Term info

Label

auditory ossicle bone

Synonyms
  • auditory bone
  • middle ear ossicle
database cross reference
Subsets

uberon_slim, pheno_slim

plural term
ossicular chain

plural term
ear ossicles

contributor

https://github.com/cmungall

depicted by

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Illu_auditory_ossicles.jpg

development notes

Studies have shown that ear bones in mammal embryos are attached to the dentary, which is part of the jaw. These are ossified portions of cartilage -- called Meckel's cartilage -- that are attached to the jaw. As the embryo develops, the cartilage hardens to form bone. Later in development, the bone structure breaks loose from the jaw and migrates to the inner ear area. The structure is known as the middle ear, and is made up of the incus, stapes, malleus, and tympanic membrane. These correspond to the quadrate, prearticular, articular, and angular structures in the reptile jaw. For this reason, researchers believe the similarity of the results shows that mammals and reptiles have a common ancestry.

editor note

This should probably be restricted to mammals - the AAO/XAO structures may group non-homologous structures [Wikipedia:Evolution_of_mammalian_auditory_ossicles] see https://github.com/seger/aao/issues/5.

external definition

The small bones of the middle ear: incus, malleus, and stapes. [TFD][VHOG]

has related synonym

ossicle of ear, ear bone, auditory ossicle, ossicular chain, ossicle of inner ear, ear ossicles, ear ossicle, middle ear bone

homology notes

Additional structural analysis within a phylogenetic context has led to the remarkable discovery that in synapsids, thought to be ancestral to mammals, both the quadrate and articular have become reduced and less firmly articulated with their surrounding bones, reducing their jaw-joint-bearing role. This trend culminated with the incorporation of the quadrate, the columella (which remains articulated with the quadrate), and the articular into the expanded middle ear in mammals.[well established][VHOG]

id

UBERON:0001686