Endoscopically assisted biopsy of a sheep's vomeronasal organ

The article describes the original technique of conducting a biopsy of the vomeronasal organ (VNO) in sheep during rhinoscopy, and also presents its characteristic structural features, namely the morphology of the shell structure, angioarchitectonics and nervous support. The research was carried out on the basis of the Departments of Anatomy and Histology of Animals named after Professor A.F. Klimov and Veterinary Surgery of the Moscow State Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology – MBA named after K. I. Scryabin. The work was carried out on clinically healthy Romanov sheep at the age of 1 year, who reached sexual and physiological maturity, biopsy was performed under anesthesia. Based on the method of light microscopy, it was found that the sheep's VNU is located in the ventral nasal passage bilaterally from the cartilaginous nasal septum, and is protected from the outside by a layer of its own hyaline cartilage, which is covered with the mucous membrane of the nasal cavity. The structure of the EIT contains the lateral (olfactory) and medial (sensorineural) walls, between which its own cavity is located. A large number of groups of serous glands located around the central vein, as well as cavernous bodies, providing regulation of the lumen of the internal cavity of the VNU, were found in the submucosal base of the VNU. Innervation of the vomeronasal organ is carried out concentrically due to the topographic features of the course and branching of the trunks of the vomeronasal nerve.