Bielli A, Freitas-de-Melo A, Genovese P, Villagrán M, Ungerfeld R
Departamento de Morfología y Desarrollo, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de la República, Lasplaces 1550, Montevideo, Uruguay, Uruguay.
Folia Morphol (Warsz). 2017;76(2):269-276. doi: 10.5603/FM.a2016.0071. Epub 2016 Nov 4.
Antlers are lined by soft velvet tissue during antler growth. Later, the velvet is shed before rut onset. There are no detailed histological descriptions of the growing velvet, nor whether the velvet changes according to stag age. Our aims were to: 1) describe the basic histology of pampas deer antler velvet from adult and yearling males; and 2) determine the influence of age and time of antler growth on velvet's tissues morphometry.
Samples were collected from 10 stags allocated in two groups, either adult (3-5 years old, n = 5) or yearling males (2 years old, n = 5). The day of antler cast was recorded for each animal. In spring, the stags were anaesthetised and velvet samples were collected from the third tine's distal end. Samples were described qualitatively and a restricted morphometrical analysis of the antler velvet was performed.
The number of keratinocyte layers and the thicknesses of: total epidermis, corneum, intermediate and basale epidermal strata, total dermis, superficial and deep dermis were determined. Age and days after antler casting positively influenced in conjunction epidermal thickness (p = 0.037), and tended to influence both stratum intermedium (p = 0.076) and stratum corneum (p = 0.1) thicknesses. Age influenced stratum corneum thickness (p = 0.04). The pampas deer antler velvet lacked both sweat glands and arrector pili muscles.
The deep dermis was densely irrigated but displayed abundant and well developed collagen bundles. Both total epidermal and stratum corneum thicknesses related positively to the age of the animals but were not to the time since antler cast.
鹿茸在生长过程中被柔软的鹿茸皮组织所覆盖。之后，在发情期开始前鹿茸皮会脱落。目前尚无关于生长中的鹿茸皮的详细组织学描述，也不清楚鹿茸皮是否会随雄鹿年龄而变化。我们的目的是：1）描述成年和一岁雄性潘帕斯鹿鹿茸皮的基本组织学；2）确定年龄和鹿茸生长时间对鹿茸皮组织形态测量的影响。
从10只雄鹿采集样本，分为两组，成年组（3 - 5岁，n = 5）和一岁雄性组（2岁，n = 5）。记录每只动物鹿茸脱落的日期。在春季，对雄鹿进行麻醉，从第三叉的远端采集鹿茸皮样本。对样本进行定性描述，并对鹿茸皮进行有限的形态测量分析。
测定了角质形成细胞层数以及：总表皮、角质层、中间层和基底层表皮层、总真皮、浅真皮和深真皮的厚度。鹿茸脱落后的年龄和天数共同对表皮厚度产生正向影响（p = 0.037），并倾向于影响中间层（p = 0.076）和角质层（p = 0.1）的厚度。年龄影响角质层厚度（p = 0.04）。潘帕斯鹿鹿茸皮缺乏汗腺和竖毛肌。
深真皮有密集的血管分布，但有丰富且发育良好的胶原束。总表皮厚度和角质层厚度均与动物年龄呈正相关，但与鹿茸脱落后的时间无关。
