Morphological aspects of buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) umbilical cord

Abstract

RESUMO.-[Aspectos Morfológicos do cordão umbilical de búfalos (Bubalus bubalis).]Búfalo é uma importante fonte de recurso nos rebanhos animais, apresentando uma grande participação na agropecuária, provendo leite, carne e força de trabalho. O Cordão umbilical é responsável pela troca de nutrientes materno-fetais durante a gestação, e suas alterações podem comprometer o desenvolvimento fetal. Nós investigamos dez úteros gravídicos de búfalos de raças cruzadas em fases diferentes de gestação. O período de gestação e a idade fetal foram determinados pelo comprimento ápice sacral, aplicando fórmulas previamente estabelecidas. Posteriormente mediu-se o comprimento do cordão umbilical. A rede vascular do cordão umbilical e anastomoses foram observadas por injeção ou látex de neoprene. O cordão umbilical foi estudado a partir de cortes histológicos, corados por HE, picrossirius, azul de Toluidina, orceína e reação histoquímica de PAS. O cordão umbilical de bú-falos é formado por duas artérias centrais, ducto alantóide e duas veias periféricas e apresentam forma de ampulheta. A parede da artéria umbilical é composta por grande quan- Buffalo is an important livestock resource, with a great participation in agricultural systems, providing milk, meat, and work power. Umbilical cord is responsible for maternalfetal nutrients exchange during pregnancy, and its alterations can compromise the fetal development. We investigated ten pregnant uteruses collected from cross-bread buffaloes in different stages of gestation. Pregnancy and fetal age was determined by measuring the apex sacral length and development period was calculated by previously published formula. Umbilical cords were measured for length determination. Umbilical cord vascular net and anastomosis were observed by injection of Neoprene latex. Histological sections of the umbilical cord were studied after stain with HE, picrossirius, toluidine blue, orceine, and PAS reaction. Buffaloes' umbilical cord was formed by two central arteries, an allantois duct and two peripheral veins. The artery wall was composed by large quantity of collagen, elastic fibers, fibroblasts and large number of vasa vasorum. The allantois duct was located between the arteries and presented a great number of small nourishing vessels. Small nourishing vessels should be carefully considered to avoid to be mistaken to the arterials and veins vasa vasorum. Medium length of umbilical cord from buffalos was 11.8cm (minimum of 6.8cm and maximum of 17.4cm).

Histological characterization of umbilical cord in alpaca (Vicugna pacos)

“…Regarding to the microscopic aspects of allantois duct, wide light, of elongated and irregular aspect and presence of blood vessels around to the lumen is similar to that observed in other species related or not to South American Camelids (Elgozouli & Osman, ; Ferreira et al., ; Ribeiro & Miglino, ), with exception of goats where allantois duct presents a narrow and trapezoidal shape lumen (Neves, ). Cuboidal to columnar epithelium in alpaca differs to the cubic bistratified epithelium found in other domestic and wild species (Barclay et al., ; Elgozouli & Osman, ; Ferreira et al., ; Neves, ; Ribeiro & Miglino, ; Zanco, ).…”

“…Microscopic study demonstrated similar characteristics of artery and vein walls to that found other domestic species (Carvalho et al., ; Feitosa, ; Ferreira et al., ; Kumar et al., ; Miglino et al., ; Ribeiro & Miglino, ).…”

“…In the majority of mammalians, blood passes from placenta and enters the foetus through a great umbilical vein that is embedded in the umbilical cord (Kent & Carr, ). The umbilical cord of alpaca contains four blood vessels (two arteries and two veins) and a great allantoic duct covered with the amnios, this is similar to that found in other species such as bovines and small ruminants (Neves, ), zebu‐crossed bovines (Ribeiro & Miglino, ), buffaloes (Feitosa, ; Ferreira et al., ; Singh et al., ), pigs (Barclay, Franklin, & Prichard, ), african lions and gazelles (Benirschke & Miller, ), and Bactrian camels and dromedaries (Elgozouli & Osman, ; Tibary & Anouassi, ). However, this information differs to that observed in carnivores, guinea pigs and horses which present as constituents blood vessels of the umbilical cord, two arteries and one vein only (Carvalho, Miglino, Severino, Ferreira, & Santos, ; Leiser & Kaufmann, ; Zanco, ).…”

“…Arteries demonstrated a star‐shaped lumen as by Barone (), Feitosa (), Ribeiro () in zebu cows and Ferreira et al. () in buffaloes. With respect to umbilical veins, these same studies reported that veins were in elliptical shape with smooth lumen surface, showing differences which are to be found in present study where umbilical veins showed a wide and obliterated lumen; however, this last characteristic was similar to that found in horses (Carvalho et al., ; Kumar et al., ).…”

“…Umbilical arteries have showed characteristics of lumen and adventitia, media, intima layers similar to that found in other species (Kumar et al., ; Ribeiro & Miglino, ); however, based on microscopical characteristics, lumen of umbilical veins had differences to be found in buffaloes where in the veins presented as being wide and an elliptical lumen (Ferreira et al., ; Singh et al., ). Arteries demonstrated a star‐shaped lumen as by Barone (), Feitosa (), Ribeiro () in zebu cows and Ferreira et al.…”