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Diagnosis | Clitoral gland abscess
The swelling was diagnosed as abscessation of the clitoral glands. On histological examination, most of the normal architecture of the tissue associated with the mass was obliterated by inflammatory infiltrate (Fig. 3). The tissue contained large numbers of degenerate neutrophils and necrotic debris. There were moderate numbers of foamy macrophages arranged concentrically and several concentric layers of fibroblasts at the periphery. In the adjacent connective tissue, there was a moderately dense lymphoplasmacytic and neutrophilic inflammatory infiltrate, with small numbers of foamy macrophages.
Histopathology of other tissues showed focal, minimal lymphoplasmacytic myocarditis in the left ventricular myocardium; focal, mild lymphoplasmacytic interstitial nephritis in the kidney; and moderate white pulp hyperplasia of the spleen. We grossly saw one enlarged clitoral gland, but histopathology showed that both clitoral glands were severely affected with extensive abscesses. We considered that the myocarditis and nephritis were possibly related to the clitoral gland abscesses, through bacteremia and secondary colonization. The splenic white pulp hyperplasia is consistent with long-term antigenic stimulation due to the abscesses.
Mice possess bilateral subcutaneous modified sebaceous glands close to the external genitalia2,3. In females, they
are called clitoral or preputial glands. In males, they are called preputial glands. Franks4 appropriately described them as flat, leaf like glands. They are branched tubuloalveolar, holocrine glands5,6
located lateral and slightly anterior to the external genitalia. In females, a gland is located on either side of the clitoris, in the subcutaneous fat, close to the inguinal mammary gland tissue, and the excretory duct opens near the urethral opening, at the top of the clitoris. In males, the duct opens near the junction of the skin and prepuce5. The clitoral and preputial glands are androgen-sensitive7 and hence are usually smaller in females than in males7,8.
Examination of two mouse strains, ICR and Kunming, found that the males glands
were almost 10 times heavier than those in females7.Treatment with androgens such as testosterone can increase preputial gland size in female mice3.
The clitoral and preputial glands function as scent-marking glands. The most commonly utilized laboratory rodent species, such as mice, rats, hamsters and gerbils, possess scent glands that they use to mark their enclosures with pheromones as a method of communication. In common laboratory rodents,...