HISTOMORPHOLOGICAL AND ULTRASTRUCTURAL STUDY ON THE TONGUE OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN VERVET MONKEY (CERCOPITHECUS PYGERYTHRUS)

Summary

A histomorphological study was carried out using tongues from healthy adult southern African vervet monkeys sacrificed to obtain fresh kidney material for virological studies. The tongue was spatulate in dorsal profile and ovoid in cross-section, and the portion anterior to the four symmetrically positioned circumvallate papillae constituted 80% of its total length. There was no foramen caecum. Histological examination revealed collections of intra-cytoplasmic eosinophilic bodies in the prickle cells between the filiform papillae. These stained metachromatically with toluidine blue and positively for phospholipids using the acid haematin method with pyridine extraction as a control. Electron microscopy of the bodies showed them to be relatively homogeneous electron dense structures of varying size. No similar structures were found in specimens from human, chacma baboon, duiker and pigeon tongue fixed and processed in the same manner for light microscopy.