MORPHOFUNCTIONAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL STUDY OF THE LINGUAL PAPILLAE OF THE BOVINE TONGUE

The morpho-functional and topographical features of the lingual papill ae situated on the dorsal surface of the bovine tongue, were studied u tilizing LM and SEM techniques. In the bovine species, the functional differentiation of the lingual papillae in their gustative and mechani cal modes, seems to be related to the position of the papillae rather than to their morphological features. The gustative function predomina tes over the mechanical one on the caudal tract of the tongue body (la teral to the lingual torus and associated with circumvallate papillae) . The gustative function also involves the conical papillae situated o n the caudal tract of the tongue body. This gustative function is aide d by additional anatomical structures: 1. The grooves situated on the rostro-lateral side of the conical papillae; 2. The microcraters locat ed on the top of the fungiform papillae; and 3. The furrows of the cir cumvallatae papillae vallum. The contact between saliva soluble food p articles and taste buds is aided and made more efficient by these stru ctures. Furthermore, a large variety of conical papillae were observed , whereas no filiform papillae were noted.