Morphometrically observable aging changes in the human tongue

Abstract

Like the outside parts of the nose and the ear but unlike most other organs, the tongue continues to grow at advanced age. Therefore, internal morphological aging processes must also proceed in a specific way. We used sectioned specimens of the radix linguae from 111 humans. The specimens were fixed in 4% formalin solution, embedded in paraffin, then cut at a thickness of 5 microm and stained with hematoxylin-eosin. The structures of interest were measured with an automatic image analyzing system (SIS, Münster, Germany). The statistical analysis package SPSS was used for correlation and regression analysis and testing of the resulting coefficients. The mean cross-sectional area of the muscle fibers increases sharply during youth, but remains at a high level into old age. After the age of seventy, it increases again. With muscles of the locomotor apparatus, this same parameter decreases after the fifth decade. We have demonstrated the process of adipose tissue formation in muscles and serous glands. Gender differences in the aging process could be clearly shown. Numerous oncocytes were visible in ducts from elder persons.