Growth rates and patterns of organs and tissues in the bovine fetus

Richardson, Carol; Barnard, Valerie; Jones, P.C.; Hebert, C. Nancy

doi:10.1016/0007-1935(91)90044-n

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…This is the first report of such data in cattle. Richardson et al (1991) reported Jersey fetuses had accelerated kidney growth after 4.7 mo, which is in conflict with our findings. Although the exact reason for this discrepancy is not known, the fact that we observed the same result in 4 different cattle breeds gives credence to our results.…”

Section: Organ Developmentcontrasting

confidence: 99%

Growth- and Breed-related Changes of Fetal Development in Cattle

Mao¹,

Albrecht²,

Teuscher³

et al. 2008

Asian Australas. J. Anim. Sci

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Breed differences in adult animals are determined during fetal development. If interventions are to be developed that influence growth of muscle and fat, it is important to know at which time during gestation breed differences appear and are fixed. The objective of this study was to characterize fetal development in cattle of different breeds. Pregnant cows of 4 cattle breeds with different growth impetus and muscularity were slaughtered under normal processing conditions and the fetuses were removed. German Angus, a typical beef cattle; Galloway, a smaller, environmentally resistant beef type; Holstein Friesian, a dairy type; and Belgian Blue, an extreme type for muscle growth were used. Fetuses of each breed were investigated at 3, 6, and 9 mo of gestation. Fetuses were weighed and dissected into carcass, organs, and muscles. Body fat weight was obtained using the Soxhlet extraction method. Fetal weight increased most rapidly in the third trimester of gestation mainly due to the accelerated muscle and fat deposition. The organ weight to body weight (BW) ratios decreased and the muscle and fat weight to BW ratios increased. At 3 mo of gestation, Galloway fetuses had the significantly smallest BW, half-carcass weight, leg weight, organ weight, muscle weight and shortest leg length. In contrast, Holstein fetuses had the significantly greatest BW, liver, kidney, and lung weights and significantly longest leg length among the 4 breeds, but no differences between Holstein Friesian and Belgian Blue were detected in half-carcass and leg weight. Indeed, Belgian Blue fetuses had the significantly greatest half-carcass weight, leg weight, and muscle weight at 9 mo of gestation, and Galloway had a significantly greater body fat to BW ratio than Holstein Friesian and Belgian Blue. These differences were not evident at 3 and 6 mo of gestation. These data show that the profound increase of tissue and organ weights occurred in later gestation in cattle fetuses even though breed differences were evident as early as 3 mo of gestation. Depending on the tissue of interest, impacting fetal growth likely needs to occur early in gestation before the appearance of breed-specific differences.

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Section: Organ Developmentcontrasting

confidence: 99%

Growth- and Breed-related Changes of Fetal Development in Cattle

Mao¹,

Albrecht²,

Teuscher³

et al. 2008

Asian Australas. J. Anim. Sci

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“…The determination or calculation of the age of the fetuses using the three different methods led to somewhat different results, with Habermehl [ 29 ] estimating the age of the fetuses to be the highest and Schnorr and Kressin [ 31 ] the lowest; the age determination according to Richter et al [ 30 ] lay between the two schemes. According to Richardson et al [ 32 ] the vertex–anus length follows an approximately linear function with a slight kink after the 150th day of gestation. Similarly, the three schemes we applied approximately follow a linear progression.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slaughter of Pregnant Cattle at an Austrian Abattoir: Prevalence and Gestational Age

Zitterer

Paulsen

2021

Animals

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The slaughter of pregnant cattle raises ethical–moral questions with regard to animal welfare, but also concerns of consumers because of higher levels of sex steroids in the meat from pregnant cattle. Since no data on the slaughter of pregnant cattle in Austria were available, we examined uteri of slaughtered female cattle in one Austrian mid-size abattoir. Sample size was calculated for an assumed prevalence of 2.5% (±1%; 95% confidence interval) of cows or heifers slaughtered in the last trimester of pregnancy and amounted to 870 cows and 744 heifers. 1633 female cattle of domestic origin were examined, most of them of dual-purpose type. Pregnancy was detected in 30/759 heifers and in 74/874 cows (an overall prevalence of 6.4%). The number of cattle in the last trimester of pregnancy was 16 to 26, depending on the evaluation scheme. We found no significant differences in percentages of pregnant cattle sent to slaughter for beef, dual-purpose and dairy breeds, although the latter group demonstrated the lowest percentage. Our results are comparable with those from previously conducted studies in other member states of the European Union. Measures to avoid sending pregnant cattle to slaughter should be implemented at farm-level.

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“…At present, research has not characterized how the rate of parenchyma growth changes over the entire early life developmental phase. However, if mammary parenchyma growth occurs in a sigmoidal pattern (Berg and Butterfield, 1976;Batt, 1980;Richardson et al, 1991;Bollwein et al, 2017) over the course of development from birth to postpuberty, then it is possible that increased nutrient supply can alter the rate of development and composition of gain. As such, ELE heifers might be expected to reach a greater rate of parenchymal growth earlier than RES heifers (Meyer et al, 2006b,c) but of different cellular composition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preweaning nutrient supply alters mammary gland transcriptome expression relating to morphology, lipid accumulation, DNA synthesis, and RNA expression in Holstein heifer calves

Hare

Leal²,

Romao

et al. 2019

Journal of Dairy Science

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The objective of this study was to analyze the mammary gland transcriptome to determine how preweaning nutrient supply alters the molecular mechanisms that regulate preweaning mammary development. Holstein heifers were fed via milk replacer (MR) either an elevated level of nutrient intake (ELE; on average, 5.9 ± 0.2 Mcal of ME in 8.4 L of MR/d, n = 6) or a restricted amount of nutrients (RES; 2.8 ± 0.2 Mcal of ME in 4 L of MR/d, n = 5) for 54 d after birth, at which point they were slaughtered and samples of mammary parenchyma tissue were obtained. Parenchymal mRNA was analyzed, and the fold change (FC) of 18,111 genes (ELE relative to RES) was uploaded to Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software (Qiagen Bioinformatics, Redwood City, CA) for transcriptomic analysis. Using a threshold of P < 0.05, IPA identified that the FC of 1,931 of 18,811 differentially expressed genes (DEG) could be used for the analysis. A total of 18 molecular and cellular functions were relevant to DEG arising from the treatments; the 5 functions most associated with DEG were cell death and survival, cellular movement, cellular development, cellular growth and proliferation, and lipid metabolism. Based on the directional FC of DEG, the mammary gland of ELE heifers was predicted to have increased epithelialmesenchymal transition (Z = 2.685) and accumulation of lipid (Z = 2.322), whereas the synthesis of DNA (Z = −2.137), transactivation of RNA (Z = −2.254), expression of RNA (Z = −2.405), transcription (Z = −2.482), and transactivation (Z = −2.611) were all predicted to be decreased. Additionally, IPA predicted the activation status of 13 upstream regulators with direct influence on DEG as affected by ELE feeding that were ligand-dependent nuclear receptors (n = 2), enzymes (n = 1), or transcription regulators (n = 10). Of these, 6 were activated (Z > 2) and 7 were inhibited (Z < −2). In summary, feeding ELE preweaning altered the mammary transcriptome of Holstein heifers, affecting cell functions involved in the morphological and physiological development of the mammary gland.

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Growth rates and patterns of organs and tissues in the bovine fetus

Cited by 4 publications

References 14 publications

Growth- and Breed-related Changes of Fetal Development in Cattle

Growth- and Breed-related Changes of Fetal Development in Cattle

Slaughter of Pregnant Cattle at an Austrian Abattoir: Prevalence and Gestational Age

Preweaning nutrient supply alters mammary gland transcriptome expression relating to morphology, lipid accumulation, DNA synthesis, and RNA expression in Holstein heifer calves

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