The Morphological Description and Histological Structure of the Liver in Marsh Harrier Bird in Iraq (Circus aeruginosus)

The liver of marsh harrier grossly appeared as large, bi-lobed organ divided into left and right lobes, which are approximately equal in size and not divided into secondary lobes. Histologically, the liver of marsh harrier was found to contain numerous lobules which are not well defined by the connective tissue of the septa except that surrounded the portal triads. The parenchyma of liver composed of irregular branching cords of hepatocytes organized in double rows alternating with tortures path sinusoids which are lined with flattened endothelial cells and large, irregular outlined kupffer cells. Hepatic cords arranged in a radial pattern around the central vein of the liver lobule while in a subscapsular region they run parallel to the capsule. Portal areas contained a large branch of the portal vein that usually accompanied by another smaller one, hepatic artery and 1-4 branches of variable size bile duct that lined by simple cuboidal epithelium and contained abundant secretory material in their lumen. Portal triad structures are surrounded by moderate amounts of connective tissue, which contains few smooth muscle fibers, the later was also observed within the capsule that surrounded the liver lobes. Glycogen granules stored in liver cells stained moderately with PAS stain technique.