Light and scanning microscopy of the taste organs and vascularization of the tongue of the spotted salamander, Salamandra salamandra (L.)

Abstract

The mucosa of the spotted salamander tongue and its taste organs were investigated by means of light and scanning electron microscopy. The most striking feature of the salamander tongue is an almost complete lack of papillae which are replaced by long, radially disposed folds with linear arrays of taste organs along their ridges. In respect of morphology, the taste organs of the salamander occupy an intermediate position between the taste buds of Urodela and taste discs of Salientia. Scanning electron microscopic examination of microcorrosion casts of the blood vessels of the tongue has revealed that the structure of subepidermal capillary network reflects the topography of the tongue surface and the distribution of its taste organs. In the core regions of the folds the capillary loops accompanying gustatory receptors empty via their shorter, descending arms into the draining vessels, the initial segments of which retain a course parallel to that of the folds. In the few fungiform papillae the capillary vessels form single loops whose distal ends come to lie in the vicinity of taste discs.