Morphology of Spleen in Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus indicus)

Abstract

Spleen plays a vital role in immune reactions to blood-borne pathogens. Specimens for the study were collected from an elephant calf and six adult Asian elephants. Spleen was long, narrow and dark red in colour. The cranial, parietal surface was convex, whereas the caudal, visceral surface was concave and presented a longitudinal hilus near its cranial border. Its cranial border and caudal border presented serrations. A thick capsule of dense connective tissue enclosing smooth muscle enclosed spleen. White pulp and red pulp constituted the splenic parenchyma. Periarterial lymphatic sheath and splenic nodules created the white pulp. White pulp comprised 20.25% of splenic parenchyma excluding the trabeculae. So, red pulp comprised the major component of parenchyma. Red pulp enclosed penicillar arteries as groups of 5-7 vessels. On the basis of the abundant red pulp observed in the present study, elephant spleen may be grouped under storage category.