Light and Ultrastructural Studies on the Lungs of Mizoram Red Serow (Capricornis rubidus)

The present study was aimed for the promotion and advancement of the anatomical knowledge at the light microscopic and electron microscopic level in red serow (Capricornis rubidus).

The present work was carried out at the department of Veterinary Pathology, Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Histology, College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Central Agricultural University, Selesih, Aizawl, Mizoram and Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facility (SAIF), All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Three Lungs samples were collected from three apparently healthy red serow of either sex. Thereafter tissue samples were collected as such and were preserved in neutral buffer formalin (NBF) and in Karnovsky’s fixative for routine histology and transmission electron microscopic examination, respectively.

The bronchi were lined by pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium. Goblet cells, basal cells and migratory cells were identified in different order of bronchus but the number of goblet cells decreased from primary to tertiary. Two orders of bronchioles were identified in Red Serow. The shape of the bronchioles was mostly round to elliptical on cross sectional view. The alveolar ducts were found as tubular structures surrounded by alveoli and usually followed a long tortuous course and gave off several branches. The walls of the alveolar ducts consisted of open sides of alveoli and the terminations of the inter alveolar septa which separated the alveoli. Two cell types, the ciliated and the non-ciliated bronchiolar epithelial (Clara) cell, formed the major components of the cell population, with the mucus-producing cell being observed only occasionally. The cells rested on a prominent basal lamina and the whole epithelium was thrown into folds. Ciliated cells were observed in the terminal bronchioles and as far distally as the respiratory bronchioles and were seen to vary both in number and height. Non-ciliated bronchiolar epithelial (Clara) cells were observed in the terminal bronchioles and all the way into the respiratory bronchioles, where they were in the majority.