FIELD AND LABORATORY STUDIES ON THE NAKED MOLE RAT, HETEROCEPHALUS GLABER

Naked Mole Rat

“…Although good descriptions (Hill et al, 1955) of naked mole rat anatomy have been published, very little is known about the basic physiology of naked mole rats. The following are some salient features known about the systems biology of the naked mole rat relative to above ground dwellers.…”

“…The incisor teeth appear to be greatly involved in somatosensory perception (Henry et al, 2006). The parotid, submandibular, and sublingual salivary glands are all well developed (Hill et al, 1955). The esophagus of the naked mole rat has keratinized stratified squamous epithelium and smooth muscle surrounding it.…”

“…The liver has four principal lobes and a number of minor ones, the main lobes being separated by deep fissures extending in most cases completely throughout the hepatic substance, and a gall bladder is absent (Hill et al, 1955).…”

“…The anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system in subterranean animals is of great interest because their environment can have high levels of carbon dioxide (7-8%) and low levels of oxygen (6%) (Arieli, 1979;Contreras and McNab, 1990;Kennerly, 1964;Nevo, 1999). Naked mole rats have three turbinates (maxillo, ethmo, and sphenoidal), three lung lobes on the right and left sides, and a caudate lobe on the right side (Hill et al, 1955). Histologically, they have a preponderant double pulmonary capillary arrangement, incomplete differentiation of alveolar pneumocytes, and extension of the cuboidal epithelium to the immediate vicinity of the alveoli (Maina et al, 1992(Maina et al, , 2001 (Figure 45.3).…”

Social Structure Predicts Genital Morphology in African Mole-Rats

“…The IC has the same attachment sites as in other rodents (the corpus cavernosum penis or corpus cavernosum clitoridis and the ischium). The BC wraps around the penile bulb in other species and, as mentioned above, naked mole rats lack a bulb of the penis [11], [27]. Thus, no BC is identified in naked mole-rats.…”