Morphological and Structural Study of Neonatal Filiform Papillae

Abstract

Introduction: This work was conducted to investigate the morphology and histological  structure  of the filiform papillae in neonate to assess their cellular  composition  ,keratinization and  arrangement  in  the  lingual mucosa .The results contribute to know the early functional maturation of the tongue surface ,which is essential for new born feeding and sensory adaptation.
Materials: Thirteen tissue specimens taken from the anterior two- third portion of the dorsal surface of the tongue  of  Thirteen full-term stillborn neonates . The samples were fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin and processed for light microscopy 
Result: The papillae appeared structurally immature, in the form of small prominent  slider–like  structure  covered  with  thin  para-keratinized stratified squamous epithelium with absent of taste buds and secondary papillae, which means that, the primary papillae is without branch to form secondary papillae, because they were not fully mature. while it was noted the interpapillary regions had thin none keratinized epithelium and loos of connective tissue without secondary papilla or ridges .The mean of the epithelial thickens for filiform papillae in neonates  was 54.9µm , while the mean for the papillae height was 86,6 µm.