Avian minor salivary glands: an ultrastructural study of the secretory granules in mucous and seromucous cells

ABSTRACT

Ultrastructural descriptions in birds are scarce thus, in this study we have characterized the secretory granules of mucous and seromucous cells from the palatine and lingual salivary glands of birds with different diets. The samples were taken from the tongue and palatine mucosa of chicken (Gallus gallus), quail (Coturnix coturnix), chimango (Milvago chimango) and white heron (Egretta thula). The samples were processed for observation by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) employing 4