Zeitschrift für Biochemie und Zellbiologie

Abstrakt

Emptying Mechanism of Perianal Glands of Ctenodactylus gundi

Mshiri OA and Berim NS

Previous studies on many mammalian species have confirmed the release of glandular secretion during scent marking behavior, however; the mechanism leading to extrusion of glandular exudates is still facing discrepancies by many authors in the field of ethology. Some investigators postulated that the secretion leaves the gland by replacement of older secretion by newly formed ones; others have always believed that scent glands must be squeezed somehow in order for the gland to release its secretory contents. No one however, showed evidence of such an active mechanism in any of the previously studied mammalian species. This study is intended to explain the exact mechanism causing the seeping of the secretion from the perianal glands during the scent marking behavior of mammals that adopt the act of anal and or hind quarters dragging. Skeletal muscles in the capsule and trabeculae of the perianal glands of Ctenodactylus gundi clearly indicate the active release of secretion from such glands voluntarily.