Distribution of Connective Tissue Fibres in the Feline Ovary and Uterus

Abstract

Connective tissue is significant because it is one of the supporting tissues, it connects organs and keeps them in place, it contains inflammatory response components, and it provides the environment in which metabolic exchange occurs between cells. Collagen fibres are the most common type of connective tissue component. Type 3 collagen, glycoproteins, and proteoglycans make up reticular fibres. They allow the uterus and ovaries to contract and stretch since they are situated in between the muscles and collagen fibres in these organs. According to the requirements of the microenvironment in which they are found, elastic fibers have persistent changeable functionalities and are resistant to tensile forces. After regular histological tissue follow-up after washing, tissues removed from the ovaries and uterus of cats were fixed in 10% formaldehyde and blocked in the paraplast. Sections from the prepared blocks were cut at a thickness of 5–6 µm. The distribution and structure of these yarns were studied using the methods of Orsein for the structure of elastic yarns derived from connective tissue yarns, Van Gieson's for the structure of collagen yarns, and Gordon and Sweet's dyeing process for the structure of reticulum yarns. It was determined that the ovary and uterus had increased collagen fiber dispersion. Less dispersion was observed in reticulum and elastic fibres. The collagen fibres in the elastic and reticulum fibres, which were arranged in thick bundles between the follicles in the ovary, were found to have a thinner structure. It was noted that the collagen fibres were more thickly distributed in the lamina propria of the uterine endometrium, where the elastic and reticulum fibres were formed from thin filaments.