Anatomical studies on shell gland in adult indigenous chicken (Gallus domestics) of Assam

This study was conducted to reveal the gross and histomorphological structures of shell gland in indigenous chicken of Assam. The mucosa of shell gland showed many leaf shaped folds which were mainly primary and secondary types and was lined by pseudo stratified ciliated columnar epithelium. The lamina propria-submucosaconsisted of branched tubular glands with pyramidal shaped cells with diffusely granular and vacuolated cytoplasm. It contained large amount of reticularfibers mainly towards the centre of the folds and somewhat less amount of collagen and elastic fibres. The lining epithelium showed intense PAS positive reaction while strongly in lamina-propria and at tunica muscularis.