Light and Scanning Electron Microscopic Study on the Structure of the Gastrointestinal Mucosa of the Mole, Talpa micrura coreana

두더지 (Talpa micrura coreana) 위장관 점막의 구조에 대한 광학 및 주사전자현미경적 연구

The morphology and histology of the gastrointestinal mucosa of the mole, Talpa micrura coreana (Thomas), were studied using light and scanning electron microscopes. Tissue specimens were taken from body and pyloric portions of the stomach, and from the initial, proximal, middle, distal and terminal portions of the intestine. For light microscopy, tissue blocks were fixed in 10% buffered neutral formalin, embedded in paraffin wax, and sectioned at a thickness of $5{\mu}m$. These sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin. For scanning electron microscopy, tissue blocks were fixed in 1% glutaraldehyde-1.5% paraformaldehyde, and postfixed in 1% osmium tetroxide, dehydrated in graded alcohol, transferred to isoamylacetate and dried by the critical point drier(Polaron E 3000). Subsequently, specimens were coated with gold and observed with a JSM-35C scanning electron microscope. The results were as follows: The mucous membrane of the body portion of the stomach had numerous irregular folds and the pyloric mucosa formed the strawberry-shaped folds, and general histological structures of each portion were similar to those of man. The intestine could not be differentiated macroscopically and microscopically into small and large intestines. There was no cecum, appendix, taenia coli, haustra coli or appendices epiploicae. In the initial portion (4 mm long), conical or tongue-shaped villi with the height of $143.3{\pm}10.7{\mu}m$ were present, and large mucous glands were seen in the submucosa. In the proximal, middle and distal portions, wavy folds composed of the epithelium and lamina propria were densely and transversely arranged, and their heights were $440.4{\pm}45.5{\mu}m,\;454.4{\pm}19.9{\mu}m\;and\;205.2{\pm}33.5{\mu}m$, respectively. The mucosa of the terminal portion (3 cm long) formed several longitudinal folds, and the intestinal glands were directly opened on the smooth surface of the folds. Aggregated lymphoid follicles were observed in the major portions of the intestine except the initial and terminal portions. There was no circular or semilunar fold throughout the intestine.