ANATOMIC STUDY OF NEOTROPIC PRIMATE'S SUBMANDIBULAR GLAND DUCTS (Cebus apella, LINNAEUS 1766)

in this study, anatomic aspects of thirty (30) submandibular salivar glands excretory ducts from the monkey cebus apella were studied by dissection techniques with magnifying glass. the monkey heads (obtained from previous researches) were all injected with green stained latex solution (neoprene 450). this procedure consists in: the animal's anesthesia; withdrawal of blood; cannulation of the aorta in cranial and caudal sense; perfusion with warm water (40°c); injection of the arterial system with stained latex; conservation in formaldehyde solution (10%) and immersion in nitric acid (2%) for a period of 10 days with the intention of decalcifying the jaw bone so that dissection was made easier. the submandibular main duct is formed by the confluence of small ducts that emerge from the glandular acinus. the main duct leaves the gland by its hilum, accompanied by vascular-nervous structures. it proceeds in rostral direction towards the sublingua, it's proximal part located above the digastric muscle's tendon and it's distal two thirds covered by the milo-hyoid muscle. the duct maintains close relation with the sublingual gland's parenchyma, and is positioned infer-medially to this gland. the duct proceeds in each antimer to the base of the sublingua, and from this point on, is directed antero-medially anastomosing with the contralateral duct (26,67%) or ending freely (73,33%) on the sublingual mucosa through a small orifice. a morphologic pattern of these submandibular ducts in cebus apella can be traced upon the data analyzed, permitting a comparison with other species since no significant differences between the antimers were found