Difference Between Utricle and Saccule

Both the utricle and the saccule provide information about acceleration. The difference between them is that the utricle is more sensitive to horizontal acceleration, whereas the saccule is more sensitive to vertical acceleration.

1. What does the utricle and saccule do?
2. What is the function of the saccule and utricle quizlet?
3. Where is the Saccule located?
4. What type of equilibrium does utricle and saccule detect?
5. What is the function of Saccule?
6. What does otolith mean?
7. Is the ear responsible for special senses?
8. Where are the saccule and utricle located quizlet?
9. Which structure is important to your sense of balance and equilibrium quizlet?
10. What is a Kinocilium?
11. Where is the vestibule located?
12. How do Kinocilium and Stereocilia work together?

What does the utricle and saccule do?

The utricle and saccule are the two otolith organs in the vertebrate inner ear. They are part of the balancing system (membranous labyrinth) in the vestibule of the bony labyrinth (small oval chamber). They use small stones and a viscous fluid to stimulate hair cells to detect motion and orientation.

What is the function of the saccule and utricle quizlet?

- They are both organs for static equilibrium, which maintains the stability of the head and body when they are motionless or during linear (straight) movements. - Both the utricle and saccule have a small area of hair cells called the macula.

Where is the Saccule located?

The saccule is a small membranous sac, paired with the utricle, within the vestibule of the inner ear. It is part of the membranous labyrinth and has an important role in orientation and balance, particularly in vertical tilt ¹.

What type of equilibrium does utricle and saccule detect?

Static Equilibrium

The saccule and utricle each contain a sense organ, called the macula, where stereocilia and their supporting cells are found. These maculae (plural) are oriented 90 degrees to one another so that they respond to positions in different planes (Fig. 8.43).

What is the function of Saccule?

The saccule gathers sensory information to orient the body in space. It primarily gathers information about linear movement in the vertical plane, including the force due to gravity. The saccule, like the utricle, provides information to the brain about head position when it is not moving.

What does otolith mean?

Medical Definition of otolith

: a calcareous concretion in the inner ear of a vertebrate or in the otocyst of an invertebrate that is especially conspicuous in many bony fishes where it forms a hard body and in most of the higher vertebrates where it is represented by a mass of small calcareous otoconia.

Is the ear responsible for special senses?

In medicine and anatomy, the special senses are the senses that have specialized organs devoted to them: vision (the eye) hearing and balance (the ear, which includes the auditory system and vestibular system) smell (the nose)

Where are the saccule and utricle located quizlet?

Where are the saccule and utricle located? Within the vestibule of the inner ear. Where are semicircular ducts located? Within bony semicircular canals (there are 3 of them, oriented 90 degrees to one another).

Which structure is important to your sense of balance and equilibrium quizlet?

What structures are responsible for the sense of balance? The hair cells of the macula are stimulated by the otoliths relaying the position of the head (balance). The part of the ear that you see, also know as the pinna.

What is a Kinocilium?

The kinocilium is an immotile primary cilium that is found at the apical surface of auditory receptor cells. Hair bundles, the mechanosensory device of the sensory hair cells, are composed of height-ranked rows of stereocilia and a single kinocilium that are interconnected by extracellular proteinaceous links.

Where is the vestibule located?

The vestibule is the central part of the bony labyrinth in the inner ear, and is situated medial to the eardrum (tympanic cavity), behind the cochlea, and in front of the three semicircular canals. The name comes from the Latin vestibulum, literally an entrance hall.

How do Kinocilium and Stereocilia work together?

Because the two sides are mirror images, the stereocilia are bent toward their kinocilium on one side and away from their kinocilium on the other side. Shearing of the stereocilia toward the kinocilium causes a depolarization of the receptor potential and an increase in afferent action potentials.