The Ultrastructure of Taste Buds in the Newborn Lamb

Tichy F.: The ultrastructure of Taste Buds in the Newborn Lamb. Acta vet. Brno, 61, 1992: 83-91. The ultrastructure of taste buds on circumvallate papillae collected from the tongues of three lambs on the day of birth was studied. Of special concern were the composition of the bud from dark, light and receptor cells, formation of the taste pore and the presence and nature of contacts of intragemmal nerve endings with each of the three cell types. The taste bud of a lamb at birth involved all three cell types. In comparison with the ultrastructure of buds in adult animals, the neonatal taste buds lacked microvilli at the apical parts of the cells composing the taste pore and only occasionally showed vesicles with dark content in the cytoplasm of receptor cells. The cells of all three types were in contact with the gustatory nerve but the character of the junction was different in the dark cells as compared with the light and the receptor