• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 2000

This study was carried out to investigate the embryonic developmental changes of the pineal gland during incubating period in the Korean pheasant. The pheasant embryos and fetuses were killed after 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, 19 and 23 (hatching) days of incubation. The morphological characteristics of a pineal gland were determined in all embryos and fetuses using the whole - mount technique, light microscopy and morphometry. The time of the first apparition of the pineal anlage, as a derivative of the roof of the third ventricle, was fixed at 3 days of incubation. The pineal vesicles appeared as solid mammilliform projections, which subsequently presented a central lumen, at 4 days of incubation. The pineal parenchyma was composed of the tubular pineal recess, the lobules surrounded with septum originating from the capsule and the follicles possessed central lumen at 23 days of incubation. The length, width and area of the pineal gland were increased markedly at 9 and 15 days of incubation. These results suggest that the pineal recess has an important role in the pineal development after hatching.