Morphometric analysis and mucin histochemistry of gallbladdersurface and glandular epithelium in swine

Abstract

The aim of thestudy was to perform morphometric analysis and to distinguishhistochemically the variety of mucins in surface and glandular gallbladderepithelium in swine at different ages. The histochemical analyses by usingalcian blue staining at different pH and alcian blue-PAS technique alloweddistinguishing neutral and acidic mucin expression in the surface andglandular epithelium of gallbladder’s fundus, body and neck where age- andsite-specific localisation of mucin content was defined. Goblet cells alsoexpressed both neutral and acidic mucins. Morphometric analysis allowedestimating the height of the surface and glandular epithelium, diameter ofglands and crypts, and comparing these parameters between the three agegroups and three gallbladder parts. The goblet cells were observed in thegallbladder neck only. The morphometric and histochemical analyses extendthe knowledge on structural and topographic features of the studiedgallbladder components that could be useful as reference data for variety ofexperiments on this organ.