Comparative Histological, Histochemical and Ultrastructure Studies on the Exocrine Pancreas of Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) and Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)

The current study targeted to compare between the pancreas (exocrine part) of Japanese quail and Cattle egret. The pancreas was investigated in eight apparent healthy mature female Japanese quail and eight Cattle egret. Histological, histochemical, and ultrastructure studies were carried out. In both birds, the pancreas is located on the right side of the abdomen between the ascending and descending loops of the duodenum. The pancreas of the Japanese quail composed of dorsal, ventral, third, and splenic lobes, while in Cattle egret the pancreas is not lobulated. The Exocrine portion consists of serous acini and intercalated duct, intralobular duct, interlobular duct, and main duct. The duct system was similar in both birds with minor differences. The intralobular duct in the Cattle egret is characterized by the presence of serous glands within its wall. Under electron microscopy, the acinar cells were of two types, electron-dense, and electron-lucent acinar cells. Histochemically, the interlobular duct of the Cattle egret positively reacted to alcian blue (pH1) and aldehyde fuchsin stains but the interlobular duct of the Japanese quail was negatively reacted.