The significance of striated muscle in the mammary glands of marsupials.

Abstract

The distribution and amounts of striated muscle within the mammary glands of pouched and pouchless marsupials from Australia and South America are described. Invasions into the mammary secretory parenchyma in pouchless marsupials by swathes of striated muscle from the ilio-marsupialis muscle are massive, in some instances concentrated into discrete muscles, which are inserted on to the bases of the teats; the name retractor mammae is proposed for these muscles. In pouched marsupials striated muscle penetrates the parenchyma, but the distribution is diffuse and the muscle strands are not inserted on to teats except in the instance of the glands of the honey possum Tarsipes rostratus. The young of anaesthetised pouchless marsupials hang down from the teats; as anaesthesia wears off they are hauled up tightly into the mammary area. It is concluded that this is a result of contraction of the retractor mammae muscles and that it is a means of protecting the naked young from injury by rough terrain. The mammary gland musculature in pouched marsupials is considered to be vestigial, but its contraction may have the function of initiating a 'tap-response' contraction of myoepithelium acting synergistically with the 'let-down' hormone mesotocin. Mechanisms of imbibition of milk by marsupial neonates, based on observations that they can suck fluid from non-distortable tubes, are discussed.

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