Gross, Histomorphological and Histochemical Studies of the Cloaca in White Leghorn Fowl (Gallus domesticus domesticus)

Abstract

The cloaca is a complex structure in the avian species which is a common cavity of the digestive, urinary and genital system. The study was performed on 15 cloaca of White leghorn (Gallus domesticus domesticus) birds for gross, histomorphological and histochemical studies. The cloaca had three compartments demarcated by two circular folds. Each compartment of the cloaca presented its own morphological characteristics which differ in different histological aspects. Coprodeum was the largest cranial part which had short and flat microvilli. The urodeum was the second and smallest part of the cloacal compartments which was characterised by tall branching pyramidal mucosal villi having wide tubular mucosal glands. The proctodeum was the caudal segment
which was the intermediate in size and had numerous oblique folds without villi patterns. The epithelial cells of cloacal compartments showed positive reaction for alcian blue (2.5pH) which revealed the presence of acidic mucous secretion and some cells of villi showed positive reaction for PAS stain which revealed the presence of neutral mucous secretion.