Comparative imaging of the vesicular glands in New Zealand white rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

This study investigated the morphological topographic features of the vesicular glands (gll. vesiculosae) in 10 sexually mature and clinically healthy male New Zealand White rabbits, aged 12 months, with body weights from 2.8 kg to 3.2 kg. The glands were observed by ultrasonography in 2 planes, transversal and sagittal. The approach was percutaneous transabdominal prepubic. The rabbit vesicular glands were visualized as a solid heterogeneous echoic finding. Using computed tomography, we scanned the pelvis in the transversal plane through the first sacral vertebra, at a cut thickness of 3 mm. The vesicular glands were visualized as transversally ovoid, homogeneous, and hyperdense soft tissue structures. Our observations on ex vivo frozen sagittal and transversal cuts of the pelvis showed analogous morphological and anatomic characteristics to those obtained by ultrasonography and computed tomography. The imaging features of normal domestic rabbit vesicular glands can be used as a morphological basis for the interpretation of some glandular lesions.