EN
The aim of this study is the comparative analysis in the range of morphology, topography and morphometrical analysis of the mandibular ganglion in domestic ducks (Anas platyrhynchos f. domestica) and domestic turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo f. domestica). This ganglion in birds is the least studied. The mandibular ganglion is described only in hens and Japanese quails. The investigations were performed on 30 one-year-old Pekinese domestic ducks and 30 one-year-old Beltsville domestic turkeys, of different sexes (15 males and 15 females). The fowls were investigated three hours after slaughter. Two research methods were used: the Koelle-Friedenwald thiocholine method, adapted to macromorphological preparations by Gienc, and the routine histological research method. Fifteen ducks and fifteen turkeys were taken to histochemical investigations. The rest of the fowls were studied histologically. The morphometrical analysis was performed using histological slides derived from individuals of both species (15 ducks and 15 turkeys). The histochemical research revealed that the mandibular ganglion (ganglion mandibulare) in the domestic duck and domestic turkey consist of the several cell agglomerations (in the duck from 3 to 6, in the turkey 6-8) located on the distal part of the tympanic chorda and on the surface of the mandibular nerve. These agglomerations have a characteristic rosary-like shape. The section of the tympanic chorda with agglomerations of the ganglionic neurocytes lie along the mandibular nerve, the mandibular artery and the internal mandibular vein in a canal of mandibula, formed by a corpus of mandibula. The canal begins in the middle of the mandibula and ends at the foramen mentale on the apex of mandibula. The histological research confirms the presence of agglomerations of ganglionic cells in the distal part of the tympanic chorda and on the parallel to it surface of the mandibular nerve. According to the morphometrical analysis, the diameter of ganglionic cells of the mandibular ganglion in domestic ducks and domestic turkeys is similar. In ducks it varies from 9.215 to 26.583 µm and in turkeys from 10.019 to 29.185 µm. In both species smaller cells with a diameter of approximately 20 µm dominate. In domestic ducks from 6 to 11 cells were observed on the cross-sections through the agglomerations forming the mandibular ganglion while in domestic turkeys the number of neurocytes may reach even 44. The morphology and topography of the mandibular ganglion in domestic ducks and domestics turkey is similar to the other species of birds: hens and Japanese quails. This ganglion in the investigated animals consists of a variable number of neurocyte agglomerations located on the distal part of the tympanic chorda and on the parallel to its surface of the mandibular nerve. Larger numbers of ganglionic cell agglomerations and larger numbers of neurocytes in individual agglomerations in domestic turkeys are probably the result of different lifestyles.