MICROMORPHOMETRIC STUDY ON THE RAT TRACHEA OF DIFFERENT AGES

Introduction: The topographic features, anatomical parts and histological structure of the rat tracheal wall are known to be close to those of the human trachea. The lack of data on age-related changes in tracheal microstructure in healthy Wistar rats, one of the most popular models of experimentally induced diseases, including respiratory tract diseases, motivated us to undertake the present morphological study.Aim of the Work: The aim of this work is a comparative study of the thickness of the layers and wall of the trachea in healthy sexually immature and mature Wistar rats.Materials and Methods: The material for this study included cervical and thoracic trachea taken from rats aged 15 days, 3 months and 1 year, immediately after euthanasia with xylazine and ketamine, placed in 10% aqueous formalin. Metric studies were performed on histological sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin, after which the data were analyzed statistically.The results show the age-related changes in the values of the measured parameters, including the thickness of the tunica mucosa together with the tela submucosa, lamina epithelialis, lamina propria, musculus trachealis, cartilago trachealis, tunica adventitia, the entire cervical and chest wall of the trachea. Increasing values of the depth of the tracheal glands and their number with age were also found.Conclusion: Original data on the age characteristics of the studied micromorphometric parameters of the cervical and thoracic part of the normal trachea in rats were provided, which can serve as reference values in various experimental studies related to respiratory tract diseases.Key words: trachea, micromorphometric study, rat