Semi-quantitative evaluation of the outcome of the middle ear inflammation in Sh3pxd2bnee mice.

To show the degree of pathological alteration in the middle ears of control and mutant mice, symbols (−, +, ++, and +++) were used with (−) indicating no pathology and (+) to (+++) indicating little to great degree of pathology, respectively. Criteria for pathology included middle ear effusion, density of inflammatory cells, degree of tissue proliferation, density of goblet cells, and degree of inner ear effusion. Both ears were examined, and the recorded finding pertains to the ear with the greatest degree of pathology. We scored 1 point for each +; for a total maximum possible score of 15 points per mouse. The total scored rate (77/195) of 13 Sh3pxd2bnee mutant mice was significantly higher than that (4/180) of 12 wild-type mice (p