Morphological and Histochemical Characteristics of Parotid Salivary Gland in Neonates of Indian Buffalo

The present study was aimed to elucidate gross, histomorphological and histochemical status in parotid salivary gland of buffalo during neonatal life. The study was carried out on parotid salivary gland of eighteen buffalo neonates. These neonates were categorized into three groups based on their age, viz., Group-1: <1 month; Group-2: between1-2 months and Group-3: between 2-3 months. Macroscopically, the lateral surface of the gland was covered by parotid fascia, developing parotido-auricularis muscle and facial muscles and the medial surface was related to great cornu of hyoid bone, digastricus, occipito-hyoideus and sterno-mastoideus muscles, external carotid artery, external jugular vein and its tributaries, facial nerve and its branches, during early neonatal life. Histologically, the parotid gland was of compound tubuloacinar nature. The parenchyma comprised of purely serous acini along with several orders of ducts distributed in the stroma. The duct system comprised of intercalated duct, striated duct, interlobular duct and large excretory duct. The myoepithelial cells appeared as flattened basal cells initially around the developing acinar cells. The serous acinar cells of parotid gland were devoid of acidic and neutral mucopolysaccharides in neonatal age groups. Fine lipid droplets were observed in intralobular as well as interlobular connective tissue. The biometrical studies showed that there was a significant difference in the parotid gland between different neonatal age groups at p ≤ 0.05 and p ≤ 0.01 level. There was significant difference in the micrometrical parameters of parotid gland between different groups at p ≤ 0.05 and p ≤ 0.01 level.