Histological and histochemical observations for cloacal bursa in healthy male and female pigeon and goose with reference to age variations and bursa involution

This work was carried out on the cloacal bursa from 60 apparentely healthy geese and pigeons of both sexes at 2 weeks, 2 months, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years of age.The specimens were collected and examined anatomically and histologically after being fixed in 10% buffered neutral formalin .The specimens were subjected to processing till paraffin sections were obtained and stained with ; Hematoxylin and Eosin , Alcian blue , periodic acid-Schiff, Alcian blue / Periodic acid-shiff combination ,Van Gieson , Crossmon`s trichrome and Weigert`s eMacroscopically, the cloacal bursa was located on the dorsum of the cloaca and connected with it by stalk. The cloacal bursa was pale pink in colour, fleshy in consistency .It was elongated sac-like in geese and oval sac-like in pigeons. The mucosa of theHistologically, the wall of the CB was composed of three tunicae, a tunica mucosa, a tunica musculosa and a tunica serosa.In geese, the mucosa was distributed into plicae and deep crypts.The plicae shape were leaf-like in ages of 2 weeks and 2 months of both .