The comparative analysis of sperm-host glands of infundibulum-magnum and uterus-vagina junctions of Nothura maculosa quail oviduct was done during the reproductive phase. The birds were euthanized with ethyl ether after weight data were taken. After abdominal laparotomy and cranial displacement of the breastbone, two centimeters samples of infundibulum-magnum and uterus-vagina junctions were collected. The samples were fixed in Bouin's solution for twenty four hours and later, successive baths of alcohol 70% were applied on samples and soon afterwards dehydrated in a series of grow concentration alcohols (80, 90, 95 and 3x100%), diaphanized in xylol and included on paraffin. Histological sections with seven micrometers thickness were obtained and stained on Haematoxylin-Eosin (HE) technique, then they were analyzed and photomicrographed in a photomicroscope Olympus BX-50. For the morphometry analysis, infundibulum-magnum junctions and uterus-vagina sperm host gland images were captured through a computacional program Image Pro Plus 4.1", Cibernetics Brazil, making it possible to quantify them. The mucosa of the infundibulum-magnum junction presented very narrow folds in the infundibulum and too large in the magnum, while in the uterus-vagina junction was observed widely folds mucous in the vagina and smoother in the uterine portion. The average of sperm host gland in the infundibulum-magnum junction was higher (11.7 glands) (P<0.01) compared to the uterus-vagina junction (7.5 glands). It is supposed that the abundance number of sperm host glands in infundibulum-magnum junction allows faster access of the oocyte, after the ovulation of the host spermatozoid ensuring the fertilization.
histology; morphometry; oviduct; sperm-host glands; quail
