抄録
Summary: The microvasculature in the plicae palatinae transversae of the hard palate of the cat was investigated by means of the acryl plastic injection method under a scanning electron microscope (SEM).
On the hard palate of the cat, seven or eight transverse palatine ridges arching forwards were observed. Small digitiform processes were located on the top line of each ridge, and anterior and posterior conical processes were present on both the anterior and posterior slopes of each ridge. The lateral ends of each ridge were observed as simple forms in which these processes disappeared.
The blood supply of the ridges came from the lateral and medial branches of the a. palatina dura major. These branches formed a primary arterial network in the submucosa superficial to the palatine venous plexus. Small twigs were derived from this network to form a secondary arterial network in the lamina propria. Further, arterioles from this network formed a subepithelial capillary network immediately beneath the epithelium. From this net work, capillary loops sprouted into the papillae of the lamina propria. Blood from the subepithelial capillary network drained into the primary venous network in the lamina propria, from which venules drained into the superficial layer of the palatine venous plexus in the submucosa, and then into its deeper layer.
The entire microvascular pattern of the hard palate of the cat was thus investigated and used to assess and confirm the lamina-formation of the palatine mucosa. Regions of thickening such as the transverse palatine ridges of the cat were not formed by thickening of the lamina propria, but by the submucous tissue including the vascular complex.
