Morphological and functional comparison of lingual papillae in suckling and adult feral cats: Forensic evidence

Abstract

Feral cats are considered as strays and are more likely to hunt in the street. We investigated the effect of environmental adaptations on the structures of lingual papillae in feral cats, which could be used as forensic evidence for their identification. There are no reported studies about the structural comparison of lingual papillae between suckling and adult feral cats. The present study described the lingual papillae of both suckling and adult cats macroscopically and microscopically via light and scanning electron microscopy. A total of nine tongue samples each for suckling and adult feral cats were examined grossly and histologically. Papillae distributions of suckling cats were similar to those observed in adult cats. Meanwhile, the shapes of those papillae were markedly different from that of corresponding papillae in adults. The change in taste bud position and size seemed to be related to the progressive growth of the papillae between adult and suckling cats; absence of taste buds in foliate papillae of feral cats at any stage; and marginal papillae which were a characteristic feature for all suckling cats. All previous elements could be affected by the specific feeding behaviour and mastication mode adaptation in suckling and adult feral cats which might help to identify suckling and adult feral cats among other breeds and animal species. We anticipate these findings may provide promising forensic evidence to discriminate between adult and suckling feral cat remains as well as prediction of environmental harshness and feeding behaviour.

Morphological and ultrastructural characteristics of the tongue of wild boar

“…33 The fungiform papillae were distributed in the middle and lateral-caudal regions of the dorsal surface, whose characteristics are similar to those described in the pig, 32 goat, 24 dog, 14 and paca. 40 The three-dimensional analysis demonstrated that the fungiform papilla was rounded and resembles a fungiform papilla type described for the Egyptian fruit bat, 21 but differs from the mushroom shape, 17,33 dome-like shape with varied sizes, 10 and the rectangular fungiform papillae. 21 After epithelium removal, the CTCs have a bud-flower shape and this differs from the volcano shape, 28 the rose-bud shape, 37 the handle shape, 41 the dome shape, 42 and the columnar shape.…”

“…The presence of taste buds in the lower region of the wall of the groove has been described for the pig. 32 The foliate papilla does not present taste buds in suckling and adult feral cat individuals, 17 and the foliate papillae are not very developed in the Artiodactyla order. 30 The foliate papillae presented three to four pairs of epithelial folds, separated by irregular parallel grooves, located in the lateral-caudal margin of the tongue.…”

“…3 The development and evolution of the tongue and the lingual papillae can be influenced by their habitat and their functional aspects. 2,4 The tongue and lingual papillae demonstrate wide structural and ultrastructural characteristics among mammals, such as those described for rodents, [5][6][7][8][9][10] equines and ruminants, [11][12][13] canines, 14 sloth, 15 Carnivora order, 1,2,16,17 , Artioctyla order, 18 lesser hedgehog tenrec, 19 rabbit, 20 and bats. 21 The lingual mucosa has a highly differentiated system of papillae, with mechanical and gustatory functions, and those mucosa changes in epithelial morphology between the species are related to the type of food and adaptation of the animal to environmental conditions.…”

Morphogenesis of the New Zealand white rabbit tongue (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

“…Morphogenesis of the gustatory papillae was completed during the postnatal life of some animals especially that having a short gestational period, such as in; rabbit (Elnasharty et al, 2013; Nabil & Tawfiek, 2020), cat (Haddad et al, 2019), rat (Asar, Kocamaz, Demir, & Üstunel, 1996; Hosley & Oakley, 1987; Iwasaki et al, 2001), mice (Toprak & Yilmaz, 2016), hamster (Whitehead & Kachele, 1994), moreover Haddad et al (2019) added that, the papillae spreading in suckling cats are analogous to those detected in adult cats. However, their shapes are dissimilar from those of the corresponding papillae in adults.…”

“…The mammalian tongue has a characteristic structure of lingual papillae (Abumandour, 2014; El‐Mansi, Al‐Kahtani, & Abumandour, 2019; Iwasaki, 2002; Kobayashi, Jackowiak, Frackowiak, Yoshimura, & Kumakura, 2005; Massoud & Abumandour, 2019, 2020). (Abumandour, 2014; Abumandour & El‐Bakary, 2013b; Haddad et al, 2019) in rabbit, bat, and cats added that, there are strong adaptation between the lingual papillae development and feeding and mastication behaviour in suckling and adult feral cats.…”