The accessory olfactory bulb of the mink, Mustela vison: a morphological and lectin histochemical study.

The distribution of binding sites for the lectins Ulex europaeus agglutinin I, Soybean agglutinin, Bandeiraea simplicifolia agglutinin I-isolectin B4, and Vicia villosa agglutinin in the mink olfactory bulb was investigated. All lectins except Ulex europaeus agglutinin I bound exclusively and systematically to a single area of the olfactory bulb. This area corresponded to that in which the vomeronasal nerves terminate, indicating that it is the accessory olfactory bulb, as confirmed by microdissection and by the study of transverse and parasagittal series of the olfactory bulb. The results, moreover, indicate that the accessory olfactory bulb of the mink comprises three isolated eminences, the largest in the dorsal part of the olfactory bulb, and the other two in the lateral and medial parts.

The soft-tissue components of the vomeronasal organ in pigs, cows and horses.

The soft-tissue components of the vomeronasal organ of the pig, the cow and the horse were studied with the aid of dissection, microdissection, and light microscopy and immunohistochemistry of series of transverse sections. In horses, the rostral end of the incisive duct was blind: thus, unlike in pigs and cows, there was no communication between the vomeronasal organ and the oral cavity. In all three species, the central part of the vomeronasal duct bore the 'typical' respiratory/ receptor epithelium lining on its lateral and medical walls. The rostral part of the duct was characterized by stratified columnar epithelium, while more caudal parts bore simple columnar type. The patterns of distribution of glands, blood vessels and nerves were closely associated with the patterns of distribution of duct linings. The distribution of soft-tissue components in pigs was less clearly defined than in cows and horses. Of the three species, nerves were detected in the rostral half of the vomeronasal parenchyma only in the horse.

Anatomy and cholinergic innervation of the sinus paranalis in dogs.

Conventional methods have been used to study the general configuration of the wall of the Sinus paranalis in dogs. Apocrine tubular glands, elastic fibres and smooth-muscle fibres are the more significant elements of the wall, together with the epithelium and connective tissue. By means of the immunohistochemical method described in this paper, the results provide histochemical evidence for the presence of an AChE-positive reaction, and supposedly cholinergic nerve fibres in the wall of the dog anal sacs, mainly associated with subepithelial smooth muscle, vessels, and glands.

Comparative anatomy of the vomeronasal cartilage in mammals: mink, cat, dog, pig, cow and horse.

The vomeronasal cartilages of mink, cat, dog, pig, cow and horse were studied by dissection, microdissection and by means of series of transverse sections. In all the species studied the cartilage is of hyaline type and the medial sheet is well-defined and perfectly moulded to the adjacent bone. However, interspecies differences are apparent in the manner in which the medial sheet associates and eventually fuses with the cartilage of the incisive duct; the morphology of the horse vomeronasal cartilage is particularly distinctive in this respect. The lateral sheet of the vomeronasal cartilage, although always present, has a different arrangement in each species studied. Similarly, the gaps in the lateral sheet (corresponding to the opening of the vomeronasal organ) differ among the species studied in form, location and number.

The vomeronasal system of the mink, Mustela vison. I. The vomeronasal organ.

The vomeronasal organ (VNO) of the mink is restricted to the area of the Fissura palatina and thus always topographically related to the Ductus incisivus (DI). The VNO and DI have also a functional relation because the vomeronasal duct ends in the incisive duct. On the other hand, as the DI has its mouth in the Papilla incisiva there is a communication between the VNO and the oral cavity. The vomeronasal cartilage, approximately in 1/6 of its length, wraps completely the parenchyma of the VNO whose main structure is the vomeronasal duct, with two different epithelia: sensory receptor in the medial wall, and respiratory in the lateral one. Nevertheless the variations of epithelia belong to the segment of the duct because in its rostral and caudal parts the medial and lateral epithelia are very similar. Branches and tubular PAS positive glands stand out in three points: superior, inferior and medial areas of the vomeronasal duct in which they end. An important number of vessels, mainly veins of different diameter, are located around the duct, while the nervous fibers are close to the medial wall of the duct and very easy to identify in the caudal third of the organ. Two immunohistochemical techniques were used to identify the nerve fibers and the receptor cells.