Histological and ultrastructural study on the suprarenal gland in adult rabbit

ABSTRACT

This work was carried out on the adrenal gland of twenty adult rabbits [by use of light and electron microscope] to study its structure and to correlate some structural changes to functional activities. The gland was formed of outer cortex, inner medulla and surrounded with multilayered fibrous capsule containing capillaries and nerves. The cortex was composed of three layers which were different in cell arrangement and in their staining affinity. They were zona glomerulosa [outer thin], zona fasciculata [middle thick] and zona reticularis [inner thin]. Zona fasciculata contained the highest amount of mitochondria. SER and lipid droplets. Corticomedullary junction was irregular and formed of interdigitations between cells. Basophilic medulla contained adrenalin and noradrenalin secreting cells with intervening blood vessels, nerve fibers and terminals and Schwann cells. Both types of catecholamine granules occasionally appeared in a single chromaffin cell. For this reason differentiation between chromaffin cells needs caution