Histology of the spleen of black buck (Antilope cervicapra)

Abstract

The spleen is the largest secondary lymphatic organ involved in filtering the blood and initiating immune responses against antigens. The present study was carried out on the spleen of three black buck collected from Shri Chamarajendra Zoological Garden, Mysore. Histologically, the spleen was surrounded by a thick capsule composed mainly of dense collagen fibers with few smooth muscle fibers. Thick trabeculae consisting of collagen, elastic, reticular and smooth muscle fibers extended from the capsule into the parenchyma. The splenic parenchyma was composed of red pulp and white pulp. The white pulp was distributed throughout the spleen and was composed of lymphatic nodules with a central artery. Histochemically the capsule and trabeculae showed moderate to strong PAS reaction. However, no reaction was seen in the white pulp and red pulp.