Are There M Cells in the Cecal Tonsil of Chickens?

Abstract

A unique morphological cell type, "microfold or membranous (M) cell-like cell", was detected electron-microscopically in the cecal tonsil epithelium of the chicken. M cell-like cells possessed a few short microvilli of irregular arrangement and a large number of lymphocytes and macrophages wedged into their basal surfaces. Triticum vulgaris was found to bind to M cell-like cells. With horseradish peroxidase (HRP) treatment, M cell-like cells showed an active HRP uptake just as did the neighbouring usual absorptive epithelial cells. No uptake of colloidal carbon particles from the intestinal lumen was recognized in any part of the intestinal epithelium. These results suggest that M cell-like cells of the chicken possess some M cell-characteristic morphological and histochemical features, but that their active uptake of foreign materials is not so developed as in mammalian M cells.