Histomorphometrical study of the submandibular gland ductal system in the rat

H. Fernández García1, E. García-Poblete1, E. Moro-Rodríguez1, M. Catalá-Rodríguez1, M.L. Rico-Morales1 and M.S. García-Gómez de las Heras2

1Area of Human Histology and Cytology and 2Area of Human Anatomy, Health Sciences Faculty, Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain

Offprint requests to: Dr. Hector Fernández García, Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Avda. de Atenas s/n, E-28922 Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain

 

Summary. The duct system of murine submandibular gland is composed, in contrast with other mammals, by four types of ducts, among which the granular duct is unique for rodents. The granular duct shows a typical secretory structure with a clear intersex morphological diversity on which we carried out a morphometrical study in order to determine the relative area of each duct in rats in comparison with the rest of ducts and the whole gland. Our results, in both sexes, show that the duct with the broadest surface is the granular duct, followed by the excretory, striated and the intercalated ducts. In addition, we found a significant intersex difference between the relative surface of the granular and the excretory ducts, being bigger in males than in females. Finally, in both sexes, there is a greater variation in the data related to the excretory ducts than to the other ducts. Histol. Histopathol. 17, 813-816 (2002)

Key words: Submandibular gland, Morphometry, Ductal system, Histology

DOI: 10.14670/HH-17.813