A Comparative Histological and Histochemical Study of the Parotid and Submandibular Glands in Adult Persian Cats (Felis catus) and Adult French Lop Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/ijapm.2026.42.00.20Keywords:
Histological study, Histochemical Study, Parotid gland, Submandibular Gland, Persian Cats, French Lop RabbitsAbstract
This study compares the histological and histochemical organization of the parotid and submandibular glands in adult Persian cats and adult French Lop rabbits. This study was carried out on 20 healthy adult animals, consisting of 10 Persian cats and 10 French Lop rabbits.The animals were divided into two equal groups for each species: 5 cats and 5 rabbits for histology and 5 cats and 5 rabbits for histochemistry. For histological study, the parotid salivary gland in both animals is solely serous in nature, and the duct system begins with the striated duct, excretory duct, and main duct. The submandibular gland in cats has more mucous acini, a moderate number of serous acini, and minimal mixed acini. The gland in rabbits was compact and contained more mucous, mixed, and a few pure serous glands. The duct system started with the striated duct, excretory duct, and the main duct. For histochemical study, the slides were stained with Harris hematoxylin & eosin, Masson's Trichrome, and AB-PAS. The parotid gland of the cat had only serous acini; the basement membrane and duct system gave a strong positive reaction to the AB–PAS stain. In the case of the rabbit, the secretory unit, basement membrane, and duct system had moderate to positive responses to PAS and weak to negative responses to AB. The submandibular gland of the cat has mixed acini that show a strong positive response to PAS and a very strong response to AB; the basement membrane, but not the duct system, has a strong response to PAS; the duct system, but not the basement membrane, has a positive response to AB. While in the French Lop, the gland with mixed acini and basement membrane gives a moderate positive reaction for PAS-AB, while the duct system only gives a moderate positive reaction for AB.
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