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Morphological and Histological Features of the Vomeronasal Organ in African Pygmy Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris)

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Hedgehogs have a sensitive olfaction, but little is known about their vomeronasal organ, which detects specific chemicals such as pheromones. This is the first study to reveal the morphological and histological features of the vomeronasal organ in the African pygmy hedgehog. Notably,...

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Autores principales: Kondoh, Daisuke, Tanaka, Yusuke, Kawai, Yusuke K., Mineshige, Takayuki, Watanabe, Kenichi, Kobayashi, Yoshiyasu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8160653/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34069678
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11051462
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author Kondoh, Daisuke
Tanaka, Yusuke
Kawai, Yusuke K.
Mineshige, Takayuki
Watanabe, Kenichi
Kobayashi, Yoshiyasu
author_facet Kondoh, Daisuke
Tanaka, Yusuke
Kawai, Yusuke K.
Mineshige, Takayuki
Watanabe, Kenichi
Kobayashi, Yoshiyasu
author_sort Kondoh, Daisuke
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Hedgehogs have a sensitive olfaction, but little is known about their vomeronasal organ, which detects specific chemicals such as pheromones. This is the first study to reveal the morphological and histological features of the vomeronasal organ in the African pygmy hedgehog. Notably, unlike other mammals, the hedgehog has a large, well-developed serous gland in the vomeronasal organ. This gland seems to allow flushing out odorous substances from the vomeronasal organ and might be favorable for subsequent stimulus reception. ABSTRACT: The vomeronasal organ (VNO) detects specific chemicals such as pheromones and kairomones. Hedgehogs (Eulipotyphla: Erinaceidae) have a well-developed accessory olfactory bulb that receives projections from the VNO, but little is known about the hedgehog VNO. Here, we studied the histological features of the VNO in five individual African pygmy hedgehogs by hematoxylin-eosin, periodic acid-Schiff, and Alcian blue stains. The hedgehog VNO comprises a hyaline cartilage capsule, soft tissue and epithelial lumen, and it branches from the site just before the incisive duct opening into the nasal cavity. The soft tissues contain several small mucous (or mucoserous) glands and a large serous gland, and many venous sinuses all around the lumen. The VNO lumen is round to oval throughout the hedgehog VNO, and the sensory epithelium lines almost the entire rostral part and medial wall of the middle part. These findings indicate that the VNO is functional and plays an important role in the hedgehog. Notably, the VNO apparently has a characteristic flushing mechanism with serous secretions like those of gustatory glands, which the hedgehog might frequently use to recognize the external environment.
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spelling pubmed-81606532021-05-29 Morphological and Histological Features of the Vomeronasal Organ in African Pygmy Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris) Kondoh, Daisuke Tanaka, Yusuke Kawai, Yusuke K. Mineshige, Takayuki Watanabe, Kenichi Kobayashi, Yoshiyasu Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Hedgehogs have a sensitive olfaction, but little is known about their vomeronasal organ, which detects specific chemicals such as pheromones. This is the first study to reveal the morphological and histological features of the vomeronasal organ in the African pygmy hedgehog. Notably, unlike other mammals, the hedgehog has a large, well-developed serous gland in the vomeronasal organ. This gland seems to allow flushing out odorous substances from the vomeronasal organ and might be favorable for subsequent stimulus reception. ABSTRACT: The vomeronasal organ (VNO) detects specific chemicals such as pheromones and kairomones. Hedgehogs (Eulipotyphla: Erinaceidae) have a well-developed accessory olfactory bulb that receives projections from the VNO, but little is known about the hedgehog VNO. Here, we studied the histological features of the VNO in five individual African pygmy hedgehogs by hematoxylin-eosin, periodic acid-Schiff, and Alcian blue stains. The hedgehog VNO comprises a hyaline cartilage capsule, soft tissue and epithelial lumen, and it branches from the site just before the incisive duct opening into the nasal cavity. The soft tissues contain several small mucous (or mucoserous) glands and a large serous gland, and many venous sinuses all around the lumen. The VNO lumen is round to oval throughout the hedgehog VNO, and the sensory epithelium lines almost the entire rostral part and medial wall of the middle part. These findings indicate that the VNO is functional and plays an important role in the hedgehog. Notably, the VNO apparently has a characteristic flushing mechanism with serous secretions like those of gustatory glands, which the hedgehog might frequently use to recognize the external environment. MDPI 2021-05-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8160653/ /pubmed/34069678 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11051462 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kondoh, Daisuke
Tanaka, Yusuke
Kawai, Yusuke K.
Mineshige, Takayuki
Watanabe, Kenichi
Kobayashi, Yoshiyasu
Morphological and Histological Features of the Vomeronasal Organ in African Pygmy Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris)
title Morphological and Histological Features of the Vomeronasal Organ in African Pygmy Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris)
title_full Morphological and Histological Features of the Vomeronasal Organ in African Pygmy Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris)
title_fullStr Morphological and Histological Features of the Vomeronasal Organ in African Pygmy Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris)
title_full_unstemmed Morphological and Histological Features of the Vomeronasal Organ in African Pygmy Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris)
title_short Morphological and Histological Features of the Vomeronasal Organ in African Pygmy Hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris)
title_sort morphological and histological features of the vomeronasal organ in african pygmy hedgehog (atelerix albiventris)
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8160653/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34069678
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11051462
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