Since their discovery, Brunner’s glands have been an attractive subject of research. The study aimed to investigate the structure, the topography, and the degree of development of the Brunner’s glands in chinchillas through light microscopy. Transversal fragments from the duodenum of 5 chinchilla males were histologically processed by classical paraffin technique. Brunner glands are much more developed and proportionally, they occupy at least three times more space than the Lieberkuhn glands. In many places, Brunner glands are clustered, suggesting that more than one such gland spills its secretion product through a common Lieberkuhn gland in the space between villi. We can affirm that Brunner glands, after their disposition, appearance and absence of distinct muscularis mucosae, are disposed into the thickness of the mucosa and submucosa in chinchilla (together with the Lieberkuhn glands) and not strictly in the submucosa as in other mammals.

Chinchillas, currently growing in popularity as pets, lack detailed anatomical descriptions of their skeleton. The advanced anatomic knowledge of Domestic Rabbits offers a good reference point. Thus, we performed a detailed assessment of the Chinchilla's thoracic limb skeleton features, compared to the Rabbit's, in order to provide basic data for clinicians and researchers in the orthopedic ield. 10 thoracic limb skeletons of Chinchillas and Domestic Rabbit, respectively, were examined and compared. The Chinchilla's thoracic girdle notably includes a clavicle, which is absent in Rabbits. Its scapula presents a similar frame, but a tighter supraspinous/infraspinous fossa ratio (1:1) and a shorter metacromion. The distal epiphysis of the humerus distinctly presents only one condyle in the Chinchilla. Its ulna and radius are equally well developed. The autopodium of both species is similar in shape and bone composition, counting ive digits. In conclusion, although thoracic limb skeleton similarities between the Chinchilla and of the Domestic Rabbit suggest that clinicians can use the latter as reference species when confronted with orthopedic pathology of the former, the underlined differences in the thoracic girdle and humerus between the two species must be taken in consideration when imaging diagnostic and treatments of these bones are required.

The normal morphology of the colon differs among mammal species.The ascending colon presents several types of cells, responsible for carrying different functions for this organ. Among them, the mucus-secreting cells ensure the integrity of the mucosa, local defense, protection against different external factors, inflammatory diseases, cancer, etc. The ascending colon from 5 adult male chinchillas were processed for paraffin embedding and stained with three methods: Goldner's trichrome, PAS reaction, and Alcian blue staining procedure. The results showed that the structure of the ascending colon is similar to the one described in other species, i.e. mucosa, submucosa, muscularis externa, and serosa. Regarding the mucus-secreting cells present in the deeper part of the mucosal crypts (deep crypt secretory or DCS cells) turned out to be different not only morphologically from the surface goblet cells but also regarding the type of mucus synthesized. DCS cells have a multivacuolated, faintly stained cytoplasm with moderately PAS-positive reaction and intensely positive reaction to Alcian blue stain. The mean surface of DCS cells was 521.6 µm 2 as compared to 437.9 µm 2 for goblet cells (p<0.05). In conclusion, our study describes for the first time in chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera) the presence of formerly known non-goblet or vacuolated cells, and recently entitled DCS cells in the glandular epithelium of the colon. The understanding of morphological peculiarities in chinchilla may serve as a good basis to understand the pathophysiology of various conditions that may arise.