Scanning electron microscopy of feline gastric mucosa
The advent of techniques for scanning electron microscopy stimulated the study of the surface of the gastric mucosa because of better visualization of the surface morphology. Scanning electron microscopy has been used recently in studies of the surface morphology of the gastric mucosa of the rat, the ferret and man, and the guineapig. Information is not available on the gastric mucosa of the cat. However, large numbers of cats are brought to veterinary clinics for stomach disorders. Knowledge of the normal morphology of the gastric mucosa is necessary for more accurate morphological diagnosis of gastric disorders. Four preconditioned cats were used in this investigation. Each cat was euthanatized by I/V injection of 3 ml of T-62 solution. The stomach was removed, opened along the greater curvature and rinsed repeatedly with saline. The stomach was pinned on a paraffin tray with the mucosa up. It was fixed in 5% glutaraldehyde in phosphate buffered pH 7.4 (0.15 M) at room temperature.