Histochemical Study of the Harderian Gland of Pati Duck of Assam

Pati duck population constitutes a major indigenous non-descript economically important duck variety in Assam. Harderian gland acts as a part of the head associated lymphoid tissue (HALT) and provides local innate immunity to the upper respiratory system, to the eye and oral cavity. Since literature on histoenzymic or histochemical study of harderian gland of Pati duck was scant, hence the present study was designed to establish the basic histoenzymic details on harderian gland of Pati duck of Assam.

The present study was conducted on total forty five (45) Pati duck of Assam. Ducks were divided into five groups: 0, 4, 16, 24 and 42 weeks. For histochemical parameters, tissue samples were preserved in deep freeze maintained at -80°C (except for PAS-alcian blue, where paraffin sections were utilized) immediately after collection. The preserved tissue samples were shifted directly to cryostat microtome maintained at -22°C. The frozen sections were cut at 7 μm thickness and were collected on clean slides and were treated as per the method of Singh and Sulochana (1978).

Histochemical studies revealed that the reaction of Alkaline phosphatase enzyme was mildin Harderian land of Pati duck. The reaction of the acid phosphatase was absent. The Adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity was observed moderate in all the age groups. The activity of non specific esterase was observed strong in all the age groups. The periodic acid-Schiff (PAS- Alcian Blue 2.5 pH) stain revealed positive reaction in all the age groups which indicated the presence of acid sulfated mucosubtances in the cells.