title: Blood vascular architecture of the palatine tonsil in the musk shrew (Suncus murinus): scanning electron microscopic study of corrosion casts.
abstract: The musk shrew, Suncus murinus, is one of the primitive mammals and has a pair of palatine tonsils. In the present study, we investigated the blood microvascular architecture of the tonsil in this animal by scanning electron microscopy of corrosion casts. The paranodular arterioles entered the lymph nodule to form a coarse capillary plexus within the nodule. Some of the arterioles reached the dome region to give rise to a fine meshwork of dome subepithelial capillaries. This dome subepithelial capillary network did not show any hairpin or switch-back patterns, as seen in human and rabbit tonsils. Both of the nodular and dome capillaries were drained into the postcapillary venules in the periphery of the nodular or the paranodular region. On the surface of these cast venules, oval-shaped indentations were seen corresponding to the luminal surface of the high endothelial venules. These venules were collected into the large vein at the bottom of the tonsil. The blood vascular architecture of the musk shrew tonsil is basically the same as those of other mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues in mammals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, Okayama University Medical School, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Doi
authors.forename: Mitsuhiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okano
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akagi
authors.forename: Kazunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nishizaki
authors.forename: Takehito
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taguchi
authors.forename: Takuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Aiji
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohtsuka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001160:Arterioles / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002196:Capillaries / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016319:Corrosion Casting; D004848:Epithelium / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006801:Humans; D008833:Microcirculation / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D014066:Palatine Tonsil / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology*; D012788:Shrews / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology