Histological Structure of the Digestive Tract in African Ostrich Chicks

The histological structure of digestive tracts from six 50-day old African Ostrich Chicks(Struthio camelus)were studied by paraffin sectioning and haematoxylin-eosine(H.E) staining.It is indicated that African Ostrich's digestive tract is composed of four conventional layers.The grossus plica,developed muscularis,and developed esophageal glands exist in the esophagus.Ingluvies is not observed.The glandular glands in glandular stomach consist of simple tubular glands in the lamina propria and compound tubular glands in the submucosa.The muscularis mucosa of the muscular stomach is obvious,and it is composed of internal-longitudinal and external-ring smooth muscles.The villi in small intestine are long and branchy,but they contain no central chyle vessels.There are developed intestinal gland and many aggregated lymphoid nodule in the lamina proper of the duodenum.There is no duodenal gland in the submucosa.From duodenum to ileum,intestinal villi have more evident confluences and branches;the intestinal villi in jejumum are crook and “S” shaped,and the number of aggregated lymphoid nodule gradually decreases.African ostrich has a pair of developed cecum and very developed colon,where the epithelium mucosae is stratified columnar epithelium with many goblet cells,and where there are mucosa plica and short and developed villi.These features of the digestive tract are possibly related food habit,and determine the fact that African Ostrich has a strong ability to digest and absorb food.