Morphological investigation of intestine structure of the Sunda Porcupine (Hystrix javanica)

Abstract. Yuliastuti, Prawira AY, Wahid ME, Nisa’ C, Agungpriyono S. 2022. Morphological investigation of intestine structure of the Sunda Porcupine (Hystrix javanica). Biodiversitas 23: 4793-4799. The intestine is an important part of the digestive system, which plays a role in the enzymatic process of food and the absorption of nutrients for survival. Sunda porcupine is one of the wild and protected animals in Indonesia and belongs to the group of rodents that have hindgut fermenter characteristics. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the intestine structure of the Sunda porcupine as an important part of the digestive system. Three adults of Sunda porcupine were euthanized in accordance with ethical approval of the Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) of IPB University (No. 92-2018 IPB). Gross anatomy of the macrostructure and length of the intestine, as well as histology features, such as general structure and carbohydrate content using PAS and AB pH 2.5 staining method, were observed. The organ consisted of the small and large intestine, with the duodenal ampulla and large caecum as the prominent structure. In this study, body weight and length correlated positively to intestinal length. The histological observation showed the presence of Brunner’s gland in the duodenum and it has the highest villi compared to others, while villi was absent in the large intestine. Furthermore, the small intestine exhibited various intensities with PAS and AB stain, while the large intestine had strong intensity in the goblet cell. Brunner gland in duodenum demonstrated the moderate intensity of PAS stain compared to the goblet cell in the mucosa. This study provides information about the intestine structure of Sunda porcupine as the herbivore and hindgut fermenter