Abstract
BackgroundHorses may acquire a range of paranasal sinus diseases. Clinical studies show slight differences regarding anatomical regions and age. Histopathological examination of tissue samples could play an important role in the diagnostic process. Therefore, detailed knowledge of the histological appearance of the paranasal sinus mucosa (PSM) and the nasomaxillary aperture mucosa (NAM) is essential. The objective of this study was to determine topographic and age-related differences within the healthy equine PSM. In addition, we aimed to gain detailed knowledge of the histological appearance of the NAM in comparison to the PSM.ResultsThe PSM had an average height of 75.72 ± 44.48 μm with a two-row pseudostratified columnar epithelium of 13.52 ± 4.78 μm. The parameters mucosal height, epithelial height and number of goblet cells revealed significant dependency of the sample site and age group. The maxillary and dorsal conchal sinus showed the highest values for these parameters. In terms of age, younger horses showed a significantly higher total mucosal height in contrast to a significantly lower epithelial height than older horses. Positive correlation was seen between the epithelial height and number of goblet cells. The NAM had an average height of 820.27 ± 653.21 μm. Its pseudostratified epithelium was usually arranged in three rows and had an average height of 44.9 ± 12.78 μm. The number of goblet cells in the NAM was five times higher than in the PSM. Serous glands were found in only 4% of the PSM samples and 100% of the NAM samples.ConclusionsThere are significant histological differences between different paranasal sinus sites and between different groups of age. This may be related to an altered susceptibility for certain pathologies. The striking difference in the histological appearance of the NAM compared to the PSM could be due to an enhanced role in mucociliary clearance. Further studies are necessary to improve the understanding of mucosal function in specific paranasal sinus compartments and mucosal changes generated by different diseases.
Highlights
Horses may acquire a range of paranasal sinus diseases
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
From 15 horses, 128 of 135 scheduled samples could be used for the histological investigation; 113 of these 128 samples originated from the paranasal sinus mucosa (PSM) and the remaining 15 samples originated from the nasomaxillary aperture mucosa (NAM)
Summary
Clinical studies show slight differences regard‐ ing anatomical regions and age. Detailed knowledge of the histological appearance of the paranasal sinus mucosa (PSM) and the nasomaxillary aperture mucosa (NAM) is essential. The objective of this study was to determine topographic and age-related differences within the healthy equine PSM. We aimed to gain detailed knowledge of the histological appearance of the NAM in comparison to the PSM. Traumatic and neoplastic diseases are described including primary and secondary sinusitis, mainly of odontogenic origin, sinus cysts, progressive. The rostral maxillary sinus, for example, is more often affected by primary sinusitis in comparison to sinus cysts [16]. The caudal maxillary sinus shows an increased occurrence of squamous cell carcinomas and bone tumours in comparison to other compartments [17]
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