[Histological studies on postnatal development of the musk gland in house musk shrews (Suncus murinus)]

The development of the musk gland in house musk shrews aged 0 to 21 days was studied lectin histochemically. On about 3 days of age, the musk gland could be discriminated from surrounding skin. This organ developed markedly on days 3 to 7, and its development continued to 21 days of age. Histologically, on day 1, the bulges that should develop into musk glands were identified in the vicinity of hair germs. On days 3 to 7, these bulges developed markedly, and on day 21 their structure revealed almost the same morphology with that in mature musk glands. We used 7 lectins; ConA, RCA I, PNA, SBA, UEA-I, DBA, and WGA. On day 1, 6 lectins except for WGA labelled the cell of the musk gland. WGA began to label it on day 3. Until 7 days of age, lectins bound to only the cytoplasm of the cell of musk glands. On days 12, however, PNA and UEA-1 labelled the cell membrane equally, and RCA I labeled it on day 21.