Amorphus globosus foetuses in Polish Holstein cattle: anatomical, histological, and genetic studies

Abstract

Introduction A comprehensive description is presented of four novel cases ofamorphus globosus (ag) foetuses originating from multiple pregnancies of Polish Holstein cows. Material and Methods Four amorphic foetuses were delivered by three cows. Tissue samples were collected during autopsy, embedded in paraffin, sectioned, and stained with haematoxylin and eosin. Genomic DNA was isolated from tissue samples of abnormal foetuses and from blood leukocytes of their healthy siblings. PCR reactions were used to reveal the presence of Y-linked genes (SRY and AMELY) and an X-linked gene (AMELX). Results All foetuses were classified to the groupholoacardius amorphous (anideus). Molecular analysis clearly showed that at 17 microsatellite loci, the studied amorphous foetuses had identical genotypes to the viable co-twins. Conclusion Foetuses had monozygotic origin. Histological analysis showed a low level of development of tissues of meso- and ectodermal origin, as well as features of degrading patterns.

Amorphus globosus

“…10 However, most cotwins in veterinary species die due to dystocia or dam-related disease from multiple fetal burden rather than heart failure. 10,17 Anastomosis of arteries or veins was lacking in one report of malformed fetus; 22 it was speculated in that instance that insufficient blood supply led to complete destruction of a past existing heart structure. 22 Amorphus globosus has reportedly never been observed as a single birth.…”

Ruminant health research – progress to date and future prospects, with an emphasis on Irish research

“…The epidemiology (Raboisson et al, 2013), investigation (Mee, 2020a), immunology (Jawor et al, 2017), microbiology (Mee et al, 2021), pathology (Mock et al, 2020) and control (Szenci et al, 2012) of perinatal mortality have all been advanced. While congenital defects were traditionally documented as case reports (Mee, 1994), increasingly the epidemiology (Whitlock et al, 2008;Romero et al, 2020), pathology (Gehrke et al, 2019) and aetiology (Mee, 1995;Reinartz & Distl, 2017) of such cases are presented so that our current knowledge has advanced from the singular to the population level. Current advances in genetic diagnostics (Sieck et al, 2020) have added greatly to our understanding of the causes of some of these defects and ultimately their prevention.…”