Morphometric study of intralobular ducts in wistar rat mandibular gland

Mandibular gland in rodents is composed of acini, intralobular ducts (intercalated, granular, striated) and interlobular duct, a single excretory duct that effuses into the oral cavity. Granular ducts appear only in rodents mandibular gland (mouse, rat, hamster, gerbil). In this study five male Wistar rats were considered. Mandibular glands were collected after euthanasia, in order to perform histological and morphometric investigations. Our study highlights that mandibular glands in Wistar rats show a large number of striated and granular ducts, which occupy almost half of the studied section area. The number of granular ducts (177.4/field) in mandibular gland of Wistar rats considered in the study are much higher than the number of striated ducts (64/field). The area occupied by the granular ducts is significantly larger than the one occupied by the striated ones.