Comparative observations on lingual papillae and their connective tissue cores in three primates. A scanning electron...

The 3-D structure of the connective tissue cores (CTCs) of the lingual papillae in three primates (treeshrew, crab-eating monkey and man) was observed by scanning electron microscopy. Each filiform papilla has some slender protrusions on the top in the three kinds of primates. After removal of the epithelium, the CTC of the filiform papillae has a columnar primary core with some rod shaped secondary protrusions whose number and size vary among the three species. The number of secondary protrusions on the filiform CTC is generally small in the treeshrew and is the greatest in man. The stereo structure of the filiform CTC is fundamentally similar in all these three species and is different from those of other animal orders (i.e. Insectivora, Rodentia etc.). The fungiform CTC in man as well as in the crab-eating monkey is coralliform in shape and branched several times with small depressions for taste buds on the top of each one, though there were some differences between the two species in stereo structure. On the other hand, the fungiform CTC in the treeshrew was columnar in shape and was rather similar to that of Insectivora and Rodentia. In the treeshrew there are several finger-like processes in the region where foliate papillae are located in man as well as in the crab-eating monkey.