Morphological and Histological study of the pecten oculi in Iranian native poultry

Pecten is a fully vascularized and pigmented structure of the eye in avian species which is probably involved in retinal nourishment. The structural features of pecten can be somewhat different in different bird species. With the aim of investigating the histological and anatomical structure of pecten in domestic Iranian breed of chickens, 8 chickens (4 hens and 4roosters) were purchased from Chicken Breeding Institute of Mazandaran and after slaughter, the eye balls were removed and fixed in 10% buffered formalin for anatomical and histological evaluations. It was observed that the pecten structure was consisted of 20 lamellae with different heights in both eyes of both sexes. The basal width of lamellae was 0.51±6235 micrometer in roosters and 0.47±6207 micrometer in hens. The heights of lamellae were different in each pecten oculi. Blood sinuses were present at the attachment site of pecten oculi to retina. In conclusion, the number of lamellae of pecten oculi in domestic Iranian breed of chickens is more similar to quails and turkeys while the size of their pecten oculi is close to galah parrots and domestic chickens with histological features similar to other species.