Observations concerning sexual dimorphism in submandibular gland of the rats

Authors: Cristina CERNEA¹, Viorel MICLĂU޲, Ciprian OBER*³, Laurenţ OGNEAN¹, Liviu OANA³, Mihai CERNEA⁴, Vasile RUS²

Affiliation: ¹ Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, ² Department of Cell Biology, Histology and Embriology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, ³ Department of Anaesthesiology and Surgical Propaedeutics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, ⁴ Department of Pharmacology and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca

Read full article

ABSTRACT. The submandibular glands sampled from 8 rats (4 males and 4 females) were prepared for histological exams. Aspects concerning density and diameter of the granular tubes, but also the degree of grains deposits of the cells from tubular walls were followed. Differences regarding the degree of grains deposit from the granular cells were observed, even from a tube to another or from a cell to another, both in males and females, without significantly differences between these two sexes. Based on our results, we can say that the sexual dimorphism sustained by some authors was not confirmed by our investigation.

Keywords: sexual dimorphism, submandibular gland, rat, granular tube, diameter