Abstract

The mouse (Mus musculus) is a good experimental animal model, where murine salivary glands have been widely used in research by their similarities with human glands. Stereology is a tool that has to demonstrated to be valuable in biomedical researc h. Therefore, the objective was to realize an analogy between morphology, function and morpho-quantitative characteristics of the C57BL/6 mouse submandibular gland. Five male mice, C57BL/6, from 11 to 13 weeks old were used, with an average weight of 30 g. After seven days, the mice were euthanized and the samples were extracted. Then, these were processed following the conventional histological processing protocol and stained with H&E, Picrosirius Red, AA and PAS. Finally, the histological and stereological analysis of the samples was performed. In the glandular ducts the length density (LVcond), volume density (VVcond) and surface density (SVcond) were determined; whereas, in the acinar cells the density of number (NVcel) and the density of volume (VVcel) were evaluated. For each stereological variable the mean ± standard deviation was obtained. The histological study revealed no discrepancies as previously described. Descriptive statistical analysis revealed the following: LVcond = 220.02 ± 50.51 mm/mm3; VVcond = 50.48 ± 9.55 %; SVcond = 26.39 ± 5.45 mm2/mm3; NVcel = 168467.38 ± 91288.67 /mm3 and VVcel = 24.98 ± 6.22 %. From this study, it will be possible to conduct comparative experimental research analyzing quantitative results from those presented in this research. From this study, it will be possible to carry out comparative experimental research, analyzing quantitative results from those presented in this investigation.