title: [Developmental study of the ventral scent gland of the Mongolian gerbil].
abstract: Male and female in bred Mongolian gerbils aged 4, 5, 10, and 20 weeks were examined for the presence of a ventral scent gland macroscopically and histologically. It was found in about half of the gerbils aged 4 weeks and in all of the gerbils aged over 5 weeks. In adult male gerbils it weighed three times as much as in females. The ventral scent gland exhibited a sebaceous-like structure which consists of giant glandular cells with small vacuoles in the cytoplasm and the glandular cells displayed eosinophilic bodies contained within a duct, which are extruded through the lumen as holocrine-type secretion.
authors.affiliation: Seiwa Experimental Animals, Ltd., Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hamada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanabayashi
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005849:Gerbillinae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D012543:Scent Glands / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012727:Sex Characteristics