DefinePK

Abstract

Studying the anatomical differences of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses of both rabbit and cat offers a valuable evidence for clinicians regarding the possibility of utilization of the respiratory system of rabbit and cat as models to human being studies. This work was conducted using clinically healthy ten adult domestic cats and ten White New Zealand rabbits, of different sexes and weights. Different techniques were applied from drying, fixed specimens as well as histological and histochemical studies. The nostrils of rabbit were slit like opening with complete deep cleft with two nasal pads while the cat nostrils were semicircular with shallow grooved philtrum. The nasal septum of rabbit was three layers while that of the cat was only single layer. The nasal septum of both rabbit and cat showed high level of acidic mucins in the lining epithelium and low level of neutral mucins. In the rabbit, the nasal cavity regions were the nasal vestibule, maxilloturbinates, nasomaxillary and ethmoturbinates. The nasal conchae were; dorsal, ventral, middle and ethmoidal nasal conchae in addition to the atrioturbinate. In the cat, the nasal cavity was divided into three regions; nasal vestibule, nasal cavity proper and the nasal fundus, it had four conchae; dorsal, ventral, middle and ethmoidal conchae. The paranasal sinuses of rabbit were the dorsal conchal, maxillary and ethmoidal sinuses with absence of frontal and sphenoidal; on the other hand, in the cat there were frontal, sphenoidal and maxillary sinuses.