BIOLOGY II NAME_____________________

MINK DISSECTION
ACTIVITY #1 DATE__________HOUR______

MINK DISSECTION
PART 1: CLASSROOM RULES

1. No food or drink in the lab.

2. Follow directions the first time they are given.
3. No unauthorized dissections.
4. Wash & dry the equipment you used during the dissection.
Wash & dry your desk at the end of the hour.
5. Bring your copy of Activity #1 to class every day.

Violation of these rules, failure to participate, or unsafe behavior will result in the
loss of participation points. THERE WILL BE NO WARNINGS!

PART 2: REVIEW OF DIRECTIONAL TERMS

Cranial: Toward the head Caudal: Toward the tail

Dorsal: Toward the back Ventral: Toward the belly
Proximal: Toward the point of Distal: Away from point of
attachment attachment
Medial: Toward the midline Lateral: Away from midline
Anterior: Toward the front (head) Posterior: Toward the back (tail)

DIAGRAM 1: DIRECTIONAL TERMS

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PART 3: LAB GROUP JOB DESCRIPTION

Reader (1)
D Reads the lab procedure.
D Makes sure group members are following along and on task.
D Assists other group members.
Equipment Manager (1 or 2)
D Gets the equipment from the supply area.
D Inventories and inspects the lab equipment.
D Washes and dries the lab equipment at the end of the lab period.
Dissector (2)
D Performs the actual dissection.
D Must wear gloves.
D Prepares the mink for storage.

PART 4: EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS

Latex or Vinyl Gloves

Your lab group will need to purchase a box of latex or vinyl gloves for use during
this lab.

DISSECTING KITS CONTENTS

2 pair of scissors (left open when not in use)
2 pair of bent tip forceps
3 pair of tissue forceps (with teeth)
4 sharp probes
2 mall probes

Dissecting Kits Assignments:

Group #1 Brown Kit Group #4 Blue Kit

Group #2 Yellow Kit Group #5 Red Kit
Group #3 Green Kit Group #6 Black Kit

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PART 5: GENERAL PROCEDURES

Lab Preparation (Beginning of the Hour)

D Obtain the dissecting kit assigned to your group.
D Inventory & inspect the equipment in the dissecting kit. If the equipment is
wet, dirty, or missing, report this to your teacher.
D Obtain a dissecting tray and line the tray with two layers of wet paper towels.
D Get your mink from the supply bucket for your hour. Make sure you wear
gloves.
D Remove the plastic bags from your mink. You will need to keep your bags.
D Take your mink to one of the sinks and rinse the mink with cold water.
D Place the mink on the dissecting tray. You are ready to start the lab.

Clean Up - Mink
D Take the mink to one of the back sinks, rinse the mink with cold water, and
spray the mink with dissecting spray.
D Wrap the mink with wet paper towels.
D Place the mink in a plastic bag. Squeeze the bag to remove the air and
secure the bag opening with a rubber band.
D Put the bagged mink in another plastic bag. Squeeze the bag to remove the
air and secure the bag opening with a rubber band.
D Make sure the outer bag is labeled with your names and hour.
D Place the double-bagged mink in the supply bucket for your hour.

Clean Up – The Equipment

D Wash the equipment with soap and water. Completely dry the equipment.
D Return the equipment to the supply area
D Wash your desk with soap and water. Completely dry your desk.

PART 6: MINK DISSECTION – NECK & THORACIC CAVITY

Neck
Begin by cutting and separating the sternomastoid muscles in the neck. Be careful
not to go too deep. Locate the trachea. It is a tube that runs from the larynx to
the lungs. The trachea is held open by a series of cartilaginous rings in the wall.
You can feel the cartilage rings when you run your finger along the trachea. Expose
the entire length of the trachea. The swollen area at the anterior end of the
trachea is the larynx. The larynx is formed by several cartilages and contains the
vocal cords.

The esophagus is a collapsed tube located on the dorsal surface of trachea.

Locate the esophagus and dissect it away from the trachea.

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Thoracic Cavity
Use Diagram #2 to help you identify the structures in this section. Open the
thoracic cavity by cutting through the muscles and rib cartilages on the left side of
and parallel to the sternum. Keep the scissors pointed ventrally (toward you) as
much as possible to avoid damaging structures in the cavity. Pull the walls of the
cavity lateral breaking the ribs. The thymus gland is a mass of dark brown tissue
embedded in the fat cranial to heart. Carefully remove the thymus and fat from
around the major organs. Use a probe and forceps instead of a scalpel. Take care
to avoid damaging the blood vessels.

The heart lies in the pericardial cavity, delineated by the tough pericardium.
The lungs lie in the pleural cavities, the other subdivisions of the thoracic cavity.
The right lung has three major lobes, the apical, cardiac, and diaphragmatic,
and a fourth smaller intermediate lobe, more dorsal in position and associated
with the postcava. The left lung has two lobes, the apical and diaphragmatic.
Follow the trachea and esophagus as they enter the thorax. Dorsal to the heart,
the trachea divides into left and right bronchi, which carry air to and from the
lungs. Defer dissection of this region until after removal of the heart in Part II.

The esophagus continues dorsal to the heart and penetrates the muscular
diaphragm to enter the abdominal cavity. The periodic contractions of the
diaphragm, together with the forward and outward movement of the ribs, increase
the volume of the pleural cavities and cause inspiration of air into the lungs.

DIAGRAM 2: VISCERA OF THE THORAX

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1. Be sure you can identify the following parts:

Trachea Right lung apical lobe

Larynx Right lung cardiac lobe
Esophagus Right lung diaphragmatic lobe
Thymus gland Right lung intermediate lobe
Heart Left lung apical lobe
Pericardium Left lung diaphragmatic lobe
Bronchi Diaphragm

2. Obtain Picture Set #1 and the accompanying answer sheet from your
teacher. Your group must identify the parts in Picture Set #1 before moving
on to the next part of the dissection.

PART 7: MINK DISSECTION – ABDOMINAL CAVITY

Use Diagrams 3, 4 and 5 to help you identify the structures in this section. Open
the abdominal cavity by making a single incision through the ventral body wall from
the end of the sternum to the pubis. Cut the body wall also along the edges of the
rib cage and reflect the muscle sheets laterally to expose the viscera.

DIAGRAM 3: VISCERA OF THE ABDOMEN DIAGRAM 4: STOMACH

Anteriorly, the dark lobes of the liver should be visible. The mesentery between
the liver and the diaphragm is the falciform ligament. It divides the liver into right
and left sides. The lobe of the right side of the liver closest to the midline (the right
median lobe) contains the dark green gall bladder. You may need to lift the right
median lobe of the liver and look under it in order to see the gall bladder. You may
need to cut and remove part of the right median lobe to see the gall bladder

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Identify the stomach. The stomach is attached to the liver and part of the small
intestine by a mesentery called the lesser omentum.

Attached to the greater curvature of the stomach is the greater omentum, an

extensive sheet of mesentery laden with fat. It extends caudally and covers most
of the remaining abdominal viscera. Cut the greater omentum near its attachment
to the stomach and remove it. Try to keep all the other mesenteries intact.
Identify the regions and parts of the stomach and cut it open to expose its inner
surface. Note the gastric rugae, the large longitudinal ridges. Size of the
stomach in the mink, as in other carnivores, depends on how recently and how well
the individual ate. If the stomach in your animal is full of food, it may be
enormous. The stomach is closed by contraction of the pyloric sphincter. When
the sphincter relaxes, food is permitted to pass into the small intestine.

The spleen is a greenish-brown organ lying in a mesentery on the left side of the
stomach. Locate the spleen.

DIAGRAM 5: VISCERA OF THE ABDOMEN

Identify the small intestine, which begins at the pyloric sphincter. In the
mesentery of the first part of the small intestine lies the right limb of the
pancreas. It is pinkish (brown in some minks) and rather loose in structure. The
left limb lies near the stomach and extends to the spleen. The products of the
pancreas (digestive enzymes) and of the liver (bile) are carried into the small
intestine by a common duct system. Find the large cystic duct from the gall
bladder and several hepatic ducts from the liver. These join to form the common
bile duct. Bile passes from the liver to the gall bladder, where it is stored and
concentrated. Eventually it is emptied into the small intestine. The common bile
duct enters the small intestine near the pylorus, and its point of entry may be

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marked internally by a small papilla. The two pancreatic ducts, one form each
limb, join the common bile duct just before it enters the small intestine.
Occasionally one of the pancreatic ducts will have a separate entry to the intestine.

The small intestine is divided into three segments: the duodenum, which begins at
the pyloric sphincter, the jejunum, and the ileum. Identify the duodenum
attached to the stomach. Identifying the jejunum and the ileum require histological
(tissue) study. The ileum opens into the large intestine, or colon. There is no
cecum, or pouch, developed at this point in the gut of the mink. The colon is not
divisible into ascending, transverse, and descending segments as in many other
mammals. It is instead a short descending tube that ends in the rectum.

The mink has a pair of anal glands associated with the rectum. They produce evil-
smelling musk and are usually removed during commercial preparation of dissection
specimens. If they have not been removed, don't break them open.

3. Be sure you can identify the following parts:

Diaphragm Intestines
Liver Duodenum
Gall bladder Pancreas
Stomach Cystic duct
Greater omentum Rectum
Gastric rugae Spleen
Pyloric sphincter Diaphragm

4. Obtain Picture Set #2 and the accompanying answer sheet from your
teacher. Your group must identify the parts in Picture Set #2 before moving
on to the next part of the dissection.

PART 8: MINK DISSECTION – HEART

The circulatory system of the mink consists of lymphatic ducts and the blood
vascular system (heart, arteries, veins, portal veins, and capillaries). The arteries
and veins of your specimen should be injected with colored latex -- red for systemic
arteries and blue for systemic veins. The hepatic portal system, if injected, should
be yellow. If it is not injected, the vessels can be traced because the dark brown
coagulated blood is visible through the thin walls. Use forceps and a blunt or
flexible probe when tracing vessels.

Arteries carry blood from the heart to capillary beds in either the lungs or the rest
of the body. Arterial blood is under high pressure, and the walls of arteries are
thick. Veins carry blood from capillary beds back to the heart. Venous blood is
under low pressure, and the walls of veins are thin. Portal veins carry blood from
one capillary bed to another without passing through the heart.

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Use Diagrams 6 and 7 to help you identify the structures in this section. Cut the
pericardium and open the pericardial cavity. Note that the pericardium extends
onto the great vessels connected to the heart and is reflected back on them and on
the heart surface as the epicardium, or visceral pericarium. Cut the systemic
aorta, the precava, the azygos vein, and the postcava. Refer to Drawings 2 and 3
to help you identify the blood vessels. Gently lift the heart outwards and cut the
pulmonary arteries and veins as close to the lungs as possible. The heart can then
be removed from the body. Remove the excess fat from the epicardium.

The atria lie towards the right side of the chest. The ventricles are drawn to a
point, the apex, on the left side. Identify the left and right atria. The atria are
separated externally from the ventricles by the deep coronary sulcus. Right and
left ventricles are separated externally by a shallow interventricular sulcus in the
musculature. Identify the stumps of all blood vessels leading to and from the
heart.

The heart musculature has its own blood supply, the coronary arteries. These
arteries come off the systemic aorta and run in the coronary sulcus. Branches run
from the sulcus to the atria and down the ventricles to the apex, supplying the
muscular heart wall. The heart muscle capillaries are drained by a number of
cardiac veins. Those draining the ventricular wall run from the apex toward the
atria and empty into the coronary sinus on the dorsal surface of the heart. The
coronary sinus empties into the right atrium.

Diagram 6: Heart, Ventral View

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Diagram 7: Heart, Dorsal View

Place the heart between your fingers with the apex pointing up and the dorsal and
ventral surfaces touching your fingers. Keeping this orientation, put the base of the
heart (atria side) down on the dissecting tray. With your scalpel, section the heart
by cutting lengthwise, between your fingers, from the apex to the base of the
heart. Remove the coagulated blood and latex from the heart and wash out the
cavities. Be especially careful around the valves. Identify the right and left atria,
right and left ventricles, bicuspid and tricuspid valves, precava, postcava,
aortic arch, pulmonary trunk, and pulmonary veins. Note the chordae
tendinae and the papillary muscles. Note that the wall of the atrium is much
thinner than the wall of the ventricle.

5. Be sure you can identify the following parts:

External View Internal View Attached Blood Vessels

R. atrium R. atrium Precava
L. atrium L. atrium Post cava
R. ventricle R. ventricle Aortic arch
L. ventricle L. ventricle Pulmonary trunk
Coronary arteries Pulmonary veins
Cardiac veins

6. Obtain Picture Set #3 and the accompanying answer sheet from your
teacher. Your group must identify the parts in Picture Set #3 before moving
on to the next part of the dissection.

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 PART 9: MINK DISSECTION – ARTERIES & VEINS

Use Diagrams 8, 9, 10 and 11 to help you identify the blood vessels. Clean the
vessels in the thoracic cavity. The systemic aorta curves dorsal as the aortic arch
and then runs caudal as the thoracic aorta. Two major arterial trunks come off
the arch of the aorta, the brachiocephalic and the left subclavian. The
brachiocephalic gives off the right internal thoracic artery to the ventral chest
and then divides into its three major branches, the left and right common
carotids and the right subclavian artery.

Diagram 8: Diagram 9:
Arteries of the Thorax and Neck Veins of the Thorax and Neck

The systemic drainage of the front part of the body is collected in the precava (or
anterior vena cava). It is formed by the fusion of the right and left
brachiocephalic veins. Each of these receives blood from the vertebral,
internal jugular, external jugular, and subclavian veins. The internal jugular
vein runs alongside the common carotid artery, and the vertebral and subclavian
veins are close to the arteries of the same names. In the thorax the precava also
receives blood from a single internal thoracic vein, which drains from both sides
of the ventral chest wall, and from the azygos vein.

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Trace the external jugular vein and its tributary veins on the surface of the right
side of the next and head. On the left side where the sternomastoid muscle has
already been cut, locate the deeper vessels running alongside the trachea, the
internal jugular vein and the common carotid artery. They run in a loose
connective tissue sheath bound together with the vagus nerve. The internal jugular
vein can be traced to its exit from the skull at the jugular foramen. It receives
blood from sinuses in the skull and between the meninges of the brain.

Each common carotid artery gives off small branches to the esophagus and trachea
and, just caudal to the origin of the diagastric muscle, divides into the internal and
external carotid arteries.

In the abdominal cavity, first expose and study the hepatic portal vein and its
tributaries. This system of veins drains capillaries in the walls of the gut and
carries the blood to the sinuses of the liver. The hepatic portal vein is formed by
the junction of three major tributaries, the superior and inferior mesenteric
veins and the gastrosplenic vein.

Diagram 10: Hepatic portal vein and its branches

The liver has a dual blood supply. Blood in the hepatic portal vein is rich in
nutrients freshly absorbed in the gut wall. Blood from the abdominal aorta (via a
branch of the celiac artery) is rich in oxygen. The sinuses of the liver drain
ultimately into the hepatic veins, which enter the postcava. The hepatic veins carry
blood rich in waste materials and carbon dioxide. The hepatic veins may be found
by cutting into the liver itself near the postcava.

The remaining vessels of the abdomen are the abdominal aorta and its arterial
branches, and the postcava (posterior vena cava) and its tributaries. The
abdominal aorta has three major branches in the gut, the celiac and the superior
and inferior mesenteric arteries. The celiac artery splits into several branches,
which supply the liver, stomach, spleen, duodenum, and part of the pancreas. The
superior mesenteric artery supplies most of the remainder of the intestines and the

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remainder of the pancreas. The inferior mesenteric artery supplies the lower part
of the large intestine and the rectum.

Diagram 11: Arteries and veins of the abdomen

The other branches of the abdominal aorta are associated with tributaries of the
postcava -- the renal, adrenolumbar, iliolumbar, iliac, and caudal vessels. The
arteries to the gonads come off the abdominal aorta cranial to the iliolumbar
branches -- ovarian arteries in the female and spermatic arteries in the male.
Venous return from the gonads enters the postcava on the right side and the renal
vein on the left.

7. Be sure you can identify the following parts:

Arteries Veins
Aortic arch Precava
Thoracic aorta Post cava
Brachiocephalic artery Internal jugulars
Left subclavian artery External jugulars
Common carotids Subclavian veins
Abdominal aorta Azygous vein
Renal artery Hepatic portal vein
Iliac artery Renal vein
Iliac vein

8. Obtain Picture Set #4 and the accompanying answer sheet from your
teacher. Your group must identify the parts in Picture Set #4 before moving
on to the next part of the dissection.

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PART 10: MINK DISSECTION – URINARY SYSTEM

Use Diagram 12 to help you identify the structures in this section. Carefully
remove the fat surrounding the kidneys and genital organs. Use forceps and a
blunt probe. Save all the ducts and blood vessels. Expose the kidneys. They lie
against the dorsal body wall and are covered by parietal peritoneum. The adrenal
glands are small dark brown bodies lying in the fat medial to each kidney. The
right adrenal gland lies dorsal to the right renal vein. Find and clean the ureters,
renal artery, renal vein and trace them to their connections to the urinary
bladder. The bladder is connected to the ventral body wall by a suspensory
ligament. Urine passes from the kidneys to the bladder via the ureters and is
stored there. The urine eventually passes from the bladder to the outside of the
body through the urethra.

The kidney of the mink is bean-shaped, having a convex lateral border and an
indentation, the hilus, medially. The ureter, renal artery, and renal vein enter the
kidney at the hilus. Remove one kidney and slice it longitudinally in the frontal
plane with your scalpel. Internally, two zones of tissue can be distinguished
macroscopically -- the outer granular cortex, and the inner striated medulla. The
glomeruli and capsules of the kidney tubules are in the cortex, and the loops of
Henle and the collecting tubules are in the medulla. In the mink all collecting
tubules converge at a single papilla, where the urine is emptied into a cavity, the
renal pelvis. The renal pelvis is drained by the ureter.

Diagram 12: Kidney, frontal section

9. Be sure you can identify the following parts:

Kidney Renal cortex

Ureter Renal medulla
Urinary bladder Renal pelvis
Renal vein Renal artery

10. Obtain Picture Set #5 and the accompanying answer sheet from your
teacher. Your group must identify the parts in Picture Set #5 before moving
on to the next part of the dissection.

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PART 11: MINK DISSECTION – REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEMS

Female Reproductive Tract

Use Diagram 13 to help you identify the structures in this section. Expose the
ovaries, oviducts, and uterus. Size and morphology of these structures vary
with the reproductive state of the animal. If your mink is a fall-killed young female
that has never born kits, the uterus will be thread-like and the ovaries and oviducts
very small and difficult to study in detail. The uterus of the mink is biocornuate,
having two horns which meet dorsal to the urinary bladder to form the body of the
uterus. Each horn is supported by a sheet of mesentery called the broad
ligament.

DIAGRAM 13: FEMALE URINARY & REPRODUCTIVE TRACTS

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Male Reproductive Tract
Use Diagram 14 to help you identify the structures in this section. Find the
testicles and lean them of fat. In the intact animal they are enclosed in a skin
pouch, the scrotum, which is removed with the pelt. The tough sheath of the
testicle is the vaginal tunic, an extension of the parietal peritoneum of the body
cavity. Cut the tunic open and identify the testis, epididymis, and vas deferens.
Sperm are produced in the testis, are stored in the epididymis, and eventually pass
into the vas deferens. Trace the vas deferens to its entry into the abdominal
cavity, over the ureter, and down the dorsal surface of the urinary bladder.

DIAGRAM 14: MALE URINARY & REPRODUCTIVE TRACTS

11. Be sure you can identify the following parts:

Female Male
Ovaries Testes
Horn of the uterus Epididymis
Body of the uterus Vas deferens
Penis

12. Obtain Picture Set #6 and the accompanying answer sheet from your
teacher. Your group must identify the parts in Picture Set #6 before moving
on to the next part of the dissection.

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