The uropygial gland of the Southern Caracara (Caracara plancus; Falconidae: Falconinae): histological and histochemical aspects.

CHIALE MC; MONTALTI D; FLAMINI MA; BARBEITO CG

ACTA ZOOLOGICA

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2016

0001-7272

The uropygial gland of Southern Caracara is composed of two lobes with a conicalpapilla and 21 tuft feathers. The RGM recorded for this species was 0.057%.The capsule surrounding the gland and the medial septum is composed of denseconnective tissue and has elastic and reticular fibres. The epithelium of the adenomerscan be divided into different strata: germinative, intermediate, secretoryand degenerative stratum. The adenomers can be divided into three zones; fromzone III, adenomers lead to secondary chambers that converge into a primarystorage chamber. Histochemical techniques showed that the uropygial glandsynthesizes different types of mucins and it was also positive to some lectinsdemonstrating the presence of a variety of glycoconjugates. The RGM in thisspecies is smaller than that found for other Falconidae. These differences maybe attributed to a negative allometric relationship. The general histologicaldescription is similar to other birds. The histochemistry and lectin histochemistry analysis showed a variety of glycoconjugates as part of the uropygial gland. Uropygial secretions have been proposed to have protective functions against bacteria and fungi. The presence of carbohydrate residues is linked to glycoconjugates with antimicrobial functions in many vertebrates associating our results with this species0 habits.