Vomeronasal organ in labrador retriever dog (canis familiaris)

Abstract

The study aimed to define the anatomical and immunohistochemical characteristics of the vomeronasal organ in six male dogs. The organ was a bilateral structure located in the foremost ventral part of the nasal cavity. It was tubular in shape, and 25.36 +/- 1.89 mm in length. While the caudal end of the organ was blind, the cranial one consisted of a bilateral vomeronasal duct. At the histological examination, two types of epithelium were seen: sensory and non-sensory. The vomeronasal organ was largely surrounded by "J shaped" vomeronasal hyaline cartilage. The perichondrium of the vomeronasal hyaline cartilage consisted of chondroblasts. At the higher magnification, the strong immune positive reaction with anti-oestrogen antibody was observed only in the sensory epithelium of the organ.