Immunohistochemical analysis of type III collagen expression in the lingual mucosa of rats during organogenesis of the tongue.

We examined the distribution of immunofluorescence due to immunostaining of type III collagen, differential interference contrast (DIC) images and images obtained in the transmission mode after toluidine blue staining by laser-scanning microscopy of semi-ultrathin sections of epoxy resin-embedded samples, during morphogenesis of the filiform papillae, keratinization of the lingual epithelium, and myogenesis of the rat tongue. Immunoreactivity specific for type III collagen was distributed widely in the mesenchymal connective tissue in fetuses on day 15 after conception (E15), at which time the lingual epithelium was composed of one or two layers of cuboidal cells and the lingual muscle was barely recognizable. Immunoreactivity specific for type III collagen was clearly detected on the lamina propria in fetuses on E17 and E19, and it was relatively distinct just beneath the lingual epithelium. Immunoreactivity specific for type III collagen was sparsely distributed on the connective tissue around the developing lingual muscle. In fetuses on E19, the epithelium became clearly stratified and squamous. At postnatal stages from newborn (P0) to postnatal day 14 (P14), keratinization of the lingual epithelium advanced gradually with the development of filiform papillae. On P0, myogenesis of the tongue was almost completed. The intensity of the fluorescence immunoreactivity specific for type III collagen at postnatal stages was almost same as that on E19. The immunoreactivity around the fully mature muscle was relatively distinct between P0 and P14. Thus, type III collagen appeared in conjunction with the morphogenesis of filiform papillae and the keratinization of the lingual epithelium as well as in the connective tissue that surrounded the lingual muscle during myogenesis of the rat tongue.