Microanatomy of the eye structures in merino crossbreed lamb

Abstract

The information concerning the microanatomy of sensorial organs in mammals is scarce. The goal of our study was to present the microanatomy of the eye in Merino crossbreed lambs. The structure of eye was histologically evaluated in lambs (2 months old lambs, Merino crossbreed). The harvested samples were processed with the typical paraffin technique. Thus, the harvested samples were immersed in 10% buffered formalin, and then embedded in histological wax, sectioned at 5-μm thickness and mounted on microscopic slides. The obtained slides were stained using Goldner’s trichrome staining procedure. The overall structure of the eye in lamb respects the general microanatomy of the human eye, with few differences. Thus, a similar distribution of melanocytes throughout the sclera, without observing a higher number of melanocytes in the inner part of sclera (lamina fusca) was noticed. The posterior epithelium of the ciliary body is simple squamous with few melanin granules in the cytoplasm, aspect somehow different from other species, where no melanin granules were noticed in the inner cellular epithelium of the ciliary body.