Abstract:
The pecten oculi is a highly vascular and pigmented structure peculiar to the avian eye. Birds
have thicker retinas compared to mammals but do not have retinal blood vessels. Therefore, it
has been suggested that the main function of pecten oculi is to supply nutrition for the a vascular
avian retina. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of a difference between the
pecten oculi of male and female individuals as well as the histomorphological, histometric and
histochemical methods of Partridge of pecten oculi.
Materials and Methods: In this study, 12 healthy adults (6 male, 6 female) were used. The
pecten oculi tissues were extirpated and fixed in 10% formaldehyde for 24 h. and were
embedded in paraffin. The histological and histochemical staining techniques were employed on
5 µm sections.
Results: The partridges (Alectoris chukar) had a pleated-type which displayed folded structure.
The numbers of pleats of pecten oculi were 13-14 in partridge. Light microscopic investigation
demonstrated that pecten oculi is basically composed of numerous capillaries, large blood
vessels, and pigment cells. The capillaries are surrounded by thick basal membrane. Blood
vessels were larger in diameter (Female:13,17 µm; male:13,18 µm), fewer in numbers, and the
capillary vessels were smaller in diameter (Female:2,38 µm; male:2,40 µm) and more in
numbers. In addition, pigmented cells were observed around the capillaries. In the PAS staining
method, PAS positive reaction was observed around blood vessels, capillaries and pigment cells.
However, reticular fibers were not found in the Gordon Sweet stain. |
