Growth and Distribution of Intestinal Mucosa Associated Lymphoid Tissues and Peyer’s Patches in Native Chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) of Bangladesh

A histomorphological study was conducted to observe the growth and development of intestinal mucosaassociated lymphoid tissues (MALTs) and Peyer's patches (PPs) in native chicken of Bangladesh.A total of 120 chicks were reared up to 180 days and subsequently different segments of intestine were collected at day 1 (D 1 ), day 30 (D 30 ), day 90 (D 90 ) and day 180 (D 180 ).Tissues were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE).In the present study, intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) were abundantly found in all segments of the intestine except colo-rectum.The highest number of IELs were found at D 180 duodenum (194.6 ± 4.50), jejunum (188.8 ± 7.61) and cecal tonsil (176.6 ± 5.52), whereas the lowest number was found at D 1 colo-rectum (2.0 ± 0.70).The lamina propria of different segments of intestine contained isolatory and aggregated lymphocytes.The isolatory and aggregated lymphatic nodules were also found in lamina propria and the highest number was observed at D 90 and D 180 .Moreover, the lymphocytes were scatteredly distributed in the submucosa in all stages of development.These results suggest that the postnatal growth and development of MALTs and PPs varies in different intestinal segments and these are greatly influenced by the aging of scavenger native chicken of Bangladesh.This variation of lymphocytes also indicates the size of microbial load and level of immune status, acquired due to the presence of antigens.