In this work, the microscopic structure of mammary glands of rabbits d
uring lactation was investigated. Five New Zealand's White rabbits wer
e used as experimental animals. We conducted anatomical dissections of
the udders after killing the animals and removing samples of tissue f
or processing by histological and histochemical methods. Subjective an
d quantitative morphometric methods were used for the evaluation of th
e samples. The glandular parenchyma is the most substantial component
of the mammary glands during lactation. The relative volume of glandul
ar parenchyma was 66.33 +/- 14.32%. The relative volume of epithelial
secretory cells was 20.54 +/- 11.23% and alveolar lumen was 45.75 +/-
16.42% from the relative volume of the glandular parenchyma. The conne
ctive tissue consists of collagenous and thin tissue. Total connective
tissue accounts for 32.98 +/- 13.58% during lactation. Collagenous ti
ssue forms 7.20 +/- 8.02% and thin tissue forms 25.78 +/- 11.74%. The
adipose tissue represents 0.69 +/- 1.78%. The alveolar differentiation
was found and also quantified. The average dimensions, amount of alve
oli and the relative ratio of the alveolus wall (epithelium) to the al
veolus cavity (lumen), and height of epithelial cells, including nucle
ocytoplasmic ratio, were investigated as well. The average dimensions
of alveoli fluctuated from 53.53 mu m to 152.96 mu m. One cm(3) of the
mammary gland tissue consisted of 603,860.27 +/- 451,430.27 alveoli.
Correlations between single structural parts of mammary glands were ca
lculated.