COMPARATIVE-STUDIES ON DISTRIBUTION AND FINE MORPHOLOGY OF THE INTESTINAL PEYER PATCHES IN MONGOLIAN GERBILS (MERIONES-UNGUICULATUS) AND MICE

The intestinal Peyer's patches (PP) were significantly different in distribution and fine morphology between Mongolian gerbils and mice. The PP of gerbils were evenly distributed from the duodenum to ileum, whereas the PP of mice were more densely distributed in the lower ileum than other parts of the intestine. In gerbils, each PP had a much greater number of lymphoid follicles than in mice, although the total number of PP was smaller. Electron microscopy revealed that the PP dome of gerbils was covered with two types of epithelial cells, one with shorter microvilli and the other with longer ones, whereas the epithelial cells of the murine PP dome was uniform-shaped with numerous medium-sized microvilli. Some dome absorptive cells of gerbils were morphologically similar to poorly differentiated crypt cells of mice, suggesting to be immature M cells.