PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE GALLBLADDER IN THE RABBIT

Document Type : Research article

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Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.

Abstract

The gallbladder is a vital component of the digestive system. Its basic role is to concentrate and store bile. As well as to protect the liver, the mucosa of the stomach, the gallbladder and the colon from the effects of hepatotoxic, hydrophobic bile acids. The present work studied the development of the gallbladder in New Zealand white rabbits during the prenatal period by light microscope. It was carried out on 114 embryos. The collected material which covered most of the prenatal developmental stages ranged from 10 to 30 days. The gallbladder was observed for the first time as a solid mass in 13 day 13-day-old embryo. In the advancing ages, the gall bladder was elongated pear-shaped consisting of the neck, body and fundus and lay in a fossa on the visceral surface of the right lobe of the liver. Vacuolation of the gallbladder and development of the lumen began at 14-days-old embryo from the neck towards the fundus, in the form of small vacuoles. Complete formation of the lumen was observed at 24-days-old embryo. At this time, the structure of the wall was well established consisting of tunica mucosa, tunica muscularis and tunica serosa or adventitia. In conclusion, the time of appearance of the rabbit gallbladder primordium as well as the time of development of its lumen keeps a prolonged timeline. 

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