Morphological changes in the sphenopalatine ganglion on the background of metabolic disorders in the experiment at rats

The sphenopalatine ganglion occupies a special place in neuropathology and dental neuropathy, accompanied by such pronounced symptoms as "vegetative storm". The aim of the research was obtaining information on the external structure of the sphenopalatine ganglion, the morphometric characteristics of its neurons in norm and in experimental diabetes. The study was carried out on male Wistar rats weighing 260-300 g: with a stereoscopic biological microscope, using ophthalmic instruments, we removed almost the entire gland that was not accompanied by significant bleeding under general anesthesia. Peculiarities of the external structure of the sphenopalatine ganglion of the white rat were studied by macro-micro preparations under a binocular microscope at 50 objects pervaded with silver nitrate, according to Christensen. The sphenopalatine ganglion of the rat is located in the orbit along the lower edge of its medial wall, between it and the infraorbital vascular-neural bundle. Externally, it is a thickening of a large petrosal nerve in the form of a “sausage”, with a longitudinal diameter of 4-5.6 mm and a transverse diameter of 383 μm. The external shape of the ganglion, close to the cylinder, makes it possible, without a large error, to calculate its volume, which is 0.6 mm3. The number of neurons belonging to the medium distribution decreases in size, both in smaller and larger diameters, and the number of small and large neurons increases, as a result of which the arithmetic mean of the values of morphometric indices increase insignificantly, but it is statistically reliable. © 2020 Sociedad Anatomica Espanola. All rights reserved.