[The salivary glands of Philodryas patagoniensis Girard, 1857 (Serpentes, Colubridae). A morphological, morphometric and histological study].

Abstract

Morphological, morphometrical and histochemical studies of the cell types in the salivary glands of Philodryas patagoniensis have been performed. It is concluded: 1) the acini of supra, infralabial and premaxillary glands are formed by mucous and mucoserous cells; the Duvernoy's gland by seromucous cells; 2) mucous cells show neutral and sulphated mucosubstances and sialic acid; mucoserous cells show neutral mucosubstance, sialic acid and protein radicals; seromucous cells of Duvernoy's gland show neutral mucosubstance and protein radicals. The acinar area, height of tubule and duct cells, and nuclear volume of acinar, tubule and duct cells were evaluated morphometrically.