Morphological changes of acini of mandibular glands in pre puberal and post puberal female pigs
Miyamoto, Y.; Miyamoto, H.
Japanese Journal of Zootechnical Science 61(2): 115-120
1990
Document Number: 509409
Morphological changes of the acini of mandibular glands were investigated in pre- and post-puberal female pigs. The acini of pig mandibular glands were composed of serous cells and mucous cells, both of which contain mucopolysaccharides. In pre-puberal pigs, serous cells contained mostly sulfo-sialomucin, and mucous cells contained mostly sialomucin. In post-puberal pigs, serous cells increased in number and contained scarcely sulfo-sialomucin, while mucous cells decreased in number and contained more sialomucin. By electron microscopy, serous granules consisted of both electron-dense and -lucent materials in the pre-puberal, but were mostly electron dense in the post-puberal. Though mucous granules consisted of mostly electron-lucent materials except for small electron-dense spots in the pre-puberal, a size of the spot was larger and electron-lucent materials were transformed into the electron-flocculent ones in the post-puberal. From these results, it was assumed that the acini of mandibular glands of female pigs changed morphologically with sexual maturation and development.