Morphometric analysis and mucin histochemistry of gallbladder surface and glandular epithelium in swine

Abstract

The aim of the study was to perform morphometric analysis and to distinguish histochemically the variety of mucins in surface and glandular gallbladder epithelium in swine at different ages. The his-tochemical analyses by using alcian blue staining at different pH and alcian blue-PAS technique al-lowed distinguishing neutral and acidic mucin expression in the surface and glandular epithelium of gallbladder’s fundus, body and neck where age- and site-specific localisation of mucin content was defined. Goblet cells also expressed both neutral and acidic mucins. Morphometric analysis allowed estimating the height of the surface and glandular epithelium, diameter of glands and crypts, and comparing these parameters between the three age groups and three gallbladder parts. The goblet cells were observed in the gallbladder neck only. The morphometric and histochemical analyses extend the knowledge on structural and topographic features of the studied gallbladder components that could be useful as reference data for variety of experiments on this organ.

Keywords

• epithelium
• gallbladder
• goblet cells
• histochemistry
• morphometry
• mucin
• swine