Sublingual salivary gland

SUBLINGUAL SALIVARY GLAND
(OX, Sheep & Goat, Horse,Pig, Dog, Rabbit, Fowl)

Ox (View image)

  • The sublingual salivary gland lies beneath the mucous membrane of the floor of the mouth between the tongue and the horizontal ramus of the mandible
  • It consists of two parts dorsal and ventral. The dorsal part extends from the cranial pillar of soft palate to the symphysis of the mandible
  • It is long, thin and pale yellow in colour. The ventral part is shorter but thicker and lies ventral to the cranial portion of the dorsal part
  • It is salmon pink in colour.The whole gland is compressed laterally
  • The external surface is related to the mylo-hyoideus muscle and the internal surface to the genioglossus, mandibular duct and branches of lingual nerve
  • The ventral border is related to the geniohyoid muscle. The dorsal border is under the mucous membrane of the floor of the mouth
  • The dorsal part of the gland has several ducts, which are very tortuous and open between the papillae on the floor of the mouth
  • The ventral part has a single duct, which opens either side on the caruncula sublingualis or joins the dorsal part of the Wharton’s duct

Species difference

Sheep and Goat

  • As in ox

Horse

  • The gland extends from the mandibular symphysis to the fourth or fifth lower cheek tooth
  • It weighs about 15 to 16 gms
  • The ducts are numerous and open on small papillae on the sublingual fold

Pig

  • The dorsal part is related to the mandibular gland and its duct
  • The ventral part is much larger than dorsal part
  • All or most of the ducts from the dorsal part unite to form the ductus sublingualis major, which open near the mandibular duct
  • From the ventral part 8 or 10 ductus sublingualis minores convey the secretion through the floor of the mouth

Dog (View image)

  • It is pink in colour and made up of the dorsal and ventral parts
  • The dorsal is in intimate relation with the mandibular gland. Its duct accompanies the mandibular duct and opens along side or joins it
  • The ventral part is long and narrow and has numerous ducts, which open into the mouth directly while others join the large duct
  • The dog has another gland-the zygomatic gland. It is situated at the cranial part of the pterygo -palatine fossa. Superficially it is related to the zygomatic arch
  • It has four or five ducts which opens near the last upper cheek tooth

Rabbit

  • A small gland cranial to the submandibular gland and medial to the mandible. Thus gland is often confused with oval lymph nodes
  • The infra orbital gland lies below the eye medial to the angle of jaw and its ducts open near the upper molars

Fowl

  • A small round gland near the angle of the mouth is regarded by some as the homologue of parotid salivary gland
  • The mandibular glands lie between the two halves of the mandible and their ducts open on the floor of the mouth by several ducts
  • The maxillary glands lie in the roof of the mouth and they open on either side of the median ridge of the hard palate
  • The palatine glands are medial and lateral and open on either side of the lateral ridges
Last modified: Friday, 20 April 2012, 9:23 AM