Histomorphometry of the esophagus of adult ross broilers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the histomorphometrical variations of esophagus at different regions in Ross broilers. Twenty four apparently healthy adult Ross broilers (12 females and 12 males), aged from 7 to 9 weeks, were used. Tissue samples were taken from middle parts of cervical and thoracic regions of esophagus, fixed and stained with haematoxylin and eosin. By using ocular micrometer, the mean thickness of the tunica mucosa, submucosa, muscularis and serosa were analyzed. Results showed that the highest thickness of tunica mucosa was found in cervical region, while the highest thicknesses of other tunica were observed in the thoracic region. With the exception of lamina epithelialis in the thoracic region of esophagus, the means of all histologic layers of tunica mucosa were affected by sex (P<0.05). The mean thicknesses of the lamina epithelialis, lamina propria, lamina muscularis, tunica submucosa, inner tunica muscularis, outer tunica muscularis and tunica serosa of esophagus in Ross broilers were found to be 290-568.8, 33.8-163.8, 105-240, 40-66.4, 185-285.8, 81.7-140 and 47.5-138.2 μm, respectively. It is concluded that the histomorphological features of the esophagus in Ross broilers were similar to those of common quails, but with some differences. These differences might be due to the genetic variations in the different avian species.

Keywords: Broiler, Esophageal wall, Histomorphometry, Sexual differences