Anatomical and histomorphometrical study of the Lingua and its Papillae in the Hedgehog (Hemiechinus Auritus)

The present study was carried out to describe the anatomical and histological features and papillae of the tongue in Hedgehog. For this study, five healthy adult male hedgehogs were used in 500 gr average weigh. After euthanized, the tongues were separated from hyoid bone and the floor of the oral cavity by cutting the root and frenulum linguae and then, tissue samples were fixed in 10% buffered formalin for laboratory operations. Light microscopy observations showed that the dorsal surface of the tongue is formed of three consecutive layers; mucosa, submucosa and muscularis. The mucosal layer in three regions of apex, body and root consists of stratified squamous epithelium with variable degrees of keratinization and contains different types of papillae: filiform, fungiform and vallate-papillae. Filiform papillae were thorn-like with no secondary divisions. Fungiform papillae were dome-shape and aggregated on the lingual body. Two vallate papillae were detected on posterior end of the tongue. These papillae were largest and least numerous. No foliate papilla was observed. Also, revealed that the thickness of epithelium was reduced from the rostral to the caudal. Compare the results of this study to the other reports in rodents showed that hedgehog’s tongue anatomical and histological features is more similar to rabbit’s tongue.