Mucous Glands in the Middle Ear and Osseous Eustachian Tube

Abstract

The mucous membranes from the osseous Eustachian tube, tympanic cavity, epitympanum, antrum, and mastoid process on clinically normal middle ears from 45 temporal bones were stained by the PAS-alcian blue whole-mount method and systematically studied for the presence, number, and density of mucous glands. Only four patients did not exhibit glands. The total number of glands in the individual patients amounted to less than 60 in 85% of the cases. Only two patients showed high counts, 273 and 337 glands, respectively. The mean density was 0.53 gland per mm². In most of the patients the glands were found in three to six different localities, the most common locality being the oval window. Glands were found in only ten osseous Eustachian tubes, in very small numbers. By far the great majority of glands were inactive and degenerated. In ten patients, however, there was a small number of active glands. The glands demonstrated are presumably the sequelae of previous pathological actions upon the middle ear and Eustachian tube, and the glands are probably not a normal component of the middle ear mucosa.