ラットWeber腺の組織構築, 微細構造ならびに生後の分化

概要

論文の詳細を見る
Weber's glands which generally are called lingual mucous glands, are believed to be pure mucous glands. There are, however, some reports suggesting the existence of serous cells in the terminal portion of the glands in several mammals, including human, rat, and mouse. It also is suggested that Weber's glands play an important role in the digestion of lipid in ingested milk. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the histoarchitecture, ultrastructure, and postnatal development of rat Weber's glands. Sprague-Dawley rats aged 0 day to 1 year after birth and mature Wistar rats were used in this study. Specimens were prepared by conventional means and observed with light and transmission electron microscopes. Weber's glands of the adult rat are composed of numerous terminal portions and duct-like structures with dilated lumina. The terminal portions are tubuloacinar in shape and are mixed, consisting of mucous acini that often are capped by serous demilunes. There appear to be no ducts per se, the mucous acini increasing in diameter to form duct-like structures and approaching the crypts of the dorsal lingual surface while still retaining their mucous secretory character. Weber's glands in the newborn rat are composed of four cell types; serous, mucous, intermediate, and undifferentiated cells. Undifferentiated cells containing no secretory granules are abundant around the duct-like structures at 1 day after birth. They decrease with aging and disappear by 3 weeks after birth. Serous cells are numerous at 1 postnatal week, then decrease gradually, with just a few remaining as demilunes after 6 postnatal weeks. On the other hand, mucous cells are rare until 1 week after birth, then increase rapidly and become the predominant cell type in the gland after 3 postnatal weeks. Intermediate cells showing morphological characteristics between those of serous and mucous cells are most numerous until 2 weeks after birth, then decrease rapidly and disappear by 5 weeks after birth. These findings suggest that 1) The common name "lingual mucous gland" is inappopriate, because rat Weber's glands are composed of both mucous acinar cells and serous demilune cells. 2) Weber's glands of the newborn rat might play an important role in the digestion of ingested milk, because they possess numerous serous secretory cells, whereas von Ebner's glands of the newborn rat are still immature.
福岡歯科大学学会の論文
1999-09-30

ラットWeber腺の組織構築, 微細構造ならびに生後の分化

スポンサーリンク

概要

著者

関連論文

スポンサーリンク