Morphological features of the posterior lingual glands in the gray short-tailed opossums (Monodelphis domestica)

The posterior area of the mammalian tongue includes two sets of minor salivary glands, namely von Ebner's glands and Weber's glands. There have been morphological studies of the minor salivary glands, including reports on the posterior lingual glands of humans, monkeys and rats. However, there has been no report on the minor salivary glands of opossums. The present study was a histological investigation into the morphology of the posterior lingual glands in the gray short-tailed opossum. Lingual tissues were obtained from three opossums. All specimens were fixed in 10% neutral formalin solution, and paraffin sections were made by usual methods. They were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, PAS-alcian blue pH 2.5 and mucicarmine. Weber's glands were located from the filiform papillae to the back of the circumvallate papilla, and they consisted of seromucous secretory cells showing mucous-rich mixed glands. These mucous cells were stained with alcian blue and/or PAS. The von Ebner's glands were located from the fungiform papillae to the around of the circumvallate papillae, and they were typically PAS positive serous glands. Conclusively, the present study demonstrated characteristic features of the posterior lingual (Weber's and von Ebner's) glands of the gray short-tailed opossum, and it revealed histological data both in accordance with and different from that for the posterior lingual glands of other mammalians.