Morphometric study of the stomach of African pangolin (Manis tricuspis)

Abstract

General sections of the mammalian gut are usually adapted to suit the dietary requirements of the particular species. It is to be anticipated therefore that pangolin, which has no teeth unlike some other mammals, may have adopted a means of coping with her high chitinous diet, hence the need for this study which is expected to reveal functional implications of the different regions of the stomach. The animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and the harvested stomach cut on a regional basis that is (cardia, fundus, corpus and pylorus) and fixed in 10% formol saline for histological analysis. The stained sections were subjected to morphometric analysis at a magnification of x40 using the eye piece micrometer procedure. The results revealed that the corpus is more metabolically active than the other parts as evidenced by its total thickness (4422 ± 227.26 µ). This may be related to its active role in the churning process. The cardia and fundus on the other hand are the main recipients of the pressure initiated by the contraction of the corpus leading to the exposure of the soft internal part of the ingested arthropods. The pylorus on the other hand, performs its role of propelling the chyme into the small intestine. It is therefore evident that the parts of the stomach investigated are relevant to the high chitinous diet. Key words: Stomach, diet, chitinous, functional, implication, pangolin.