The inner ear frozen section is fragile, I almost can not find the organ of corti.
There are many factors which could go wrong, and cause this problem. It's almost impossible to find out, without knowing the details of your fixation, embedding and sectioning protocols. If you could provide more details, I would be able to help you more.
However, these are the basics:
1) Fixation: 4% PFA is a very commonly used fixative. If you are fixing adult or juvenile cochleae, which already have fluid-filled spaces, then you have to perfuse the perilymphatic space with your fixative. A common way to do that is to open a small piece of bone at the apex, then get a syringe, fill it with PFA, and slowly inject PFA through the oval and round windows. If done correctly, you should be able to see the perilymph escaping from the apex, while you inject PFA from the base.
2) De-calcification: Usually with EDTA. This is critical, if you are working with juvenile or adult cochleae, which are already ossified.
3) Cryo-protection: You should dehydrate your specimens in 30% sucrose before your freeze them. For even better preservation of morphology, perform gradual dehydration, starting with 5% sucrose, then 10%, then 15% then 30%. This helps, and is worth the effort.
Good luck.
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