Scanning electron microscopy of the papillary body of the rumen and reticulum of the one-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius)

The three-dimensional architecture of the connective tissue core (CTC) and the epithelial cell layer of the mucous membrane in the first and second compartments of the camel's forestomach was studied with the scanning EM. The samples were fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde and then immersed in 3N HCl solution for a period of 20 days at 4 degrees C. Thereafter, the epithelial cell layer was removed gently from the underlying CTC, both were dried in Peldri II, sputter-coated with gold and investigated with Zeiss DSM 950. Unlike in common ruminating animals, the mucous membrane (M.M.) of the forestomach in the camel is not arranged in complicated folds, crests or papillae. However, the CTC in both the first and second compartments (rumen and reticulum) was found to be arranged in four different ways: 1) Parallel ridges (55-166 mu m high) that alternate with grooves. Some of the ridges were projected by cone like structure. 2) Low, cone-like elevations (free cones) 27-66 mu m high. 3) Folds arranged in a network-like way. 4) Narrow undulations without.