A STUDY OF THE HISTOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY OF THE LIVER AND PANCREAS OF THE CHINESE PADDLEFISH PSEPHURUS GLADIUS (MARTENS)

The liver of the Chinese paddlefish consists of left, right and small middle lobes. The right lobe is much longer than the left one and there is a cleft in the right lobe providing a space for the gall bladder. The central veins are irregular, in distribution and lobuli hepatis are indistinct. The liver plate is composed of two layers of cells. No groups of cells contained melanin. Of the cells, the perinuclear space were big and the nuclear pores were distinct. The phenomenon of nucleolar margination was also observed. In hepatocytes, along with the presence of developed endoplasmic reticulum and many glycogen as well as other cell organelles, there are myelin figures. It was observed that four hepatocytes formed a bile canaliculus, but no intracellular canaliculus was present. The pancreas is composed of three branches covered by thick serosa. The boundaries between the exocrine part and the islets of Langerhans are distinct, but there is no discrete islet tissue outside of the exocrine gland. The bile duct and pancreatic duct jointly open to the foremost part of the small intestine.