Stereological estimation and morphological assessment of the endocrine pancreatic components in relation to sex in hen

In pancreatic survey, quantitative and morphological characteristics could be fundamental variables for the evaluation of some structures. The aim of this study was the application of stereological methods for estimation of quantitative parameters and morphological evaluation of the pancreas in chickens. Ten adult male and ten adult female native chickens were used in this study. Routine tissue processing was carried out for all samples. The sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and Gomori's aldehyde-fuchsin. Stereological examinations were performed according to systemic uniform random sampling as well as Cavalieri and point counting method. The morphological results showed that in both sexes, pancreas of chickens was composed of four main pancreatic lobes and contained two distinct islet types. Alpha islets consisted of alpha and a few delta cells and beta islets contained beta and seldom delta cells. Stereological results showed that in both sexes, there were significantly distinctive regional differences in the volume of islet and the numerical density of cells among some lobes with highest values in third and splenic lobes, respectively (p < 0.05). The nuclear volume was lowest in ventral lobe either males (80.60 ± 33.50) or females (84.20 ± 44.10). Beside, in the islets diameter of splenic lobe, there were significant differences in males as compared with females (p < 0.05). In splenic lobe, a significant difference was observed in the nuclear diameter in males than to females (p < 0.05). The results indicated that although there were not morphological changes between sexes in pancreatic lobes, however, some stereological parameters could be affected by sex.