Morphological and morphometric evaluation of prepubertal gilt ovaries, uterine tubes and uterus at different oestrus cycle stages

Abstract

ABSTRACT.-Oberlender G., Pontelo T.P., Miranda J.R., Miranda D.R., Zangeronimo M.G., Silva A.C., Menezes T.A. & Rocha L.G.P. 2014. Morphological and morphometric evaluation of prepubertal gilt ovaries, uterine tubes and uterus at different oestrus cycle stages. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira 34(1):83-90. Setor de Fisiologia e Farmacologia Veterinárias, Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Campus Universitário s/n, Caixa Postal 3037, Lavras, MG 37200-000, Brazil. E-mail: zangeronimo@dmv.ufa.br Studies are performed in developing techniques/procedures that provide greater reproductive performance in farm animals, including pigs. In this sense, the study of gilts reproductive organs at different oestrus cycle stages for assessing the presence of abnormalities and/or other parameters that may affect the future animal fertility is important. In order to evaluate the morphological, morphometric and histomorphometric features of ovaries, uterus and uterine tubes (UTs) characteristics of prepubertal gilts at different oestrus cycle stages, reproductive tracts from 48 animals immediately after slaughter were obtained. After, the structures were dissected and removed, and the ovaries were used for classification of oestrus cycle stage of each gilt in follicular phase (FP) and luteal phase (FL). Then, morphometric evaluations of ovaries, UTs, uterine horns and uterine body were performed. Besides that, medial segments of UTs and uterus were fixed in Bouin solution, processed and included in paraffin, when histological sections of 5.0 micrometers (µm) were obtained and stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin. Histomorphometric analyzes using image capture system and specific software were performed. Afterwards, data were submitted to Student's t test for assessment the statistical differences (P<0.05) between the two different oestrus cycle stages (FP × LP) and between the placement of reproductive structures (right × left antimer). Among the gilts evaluated, 35 were in the FP and 13 in LP. There was no difference (P>0.05) between morphometric parameters of ovaries, UTs and uterus of gilts in FP and LP. Likewise, in respect to the placement of reproductive structures, both in the oestrus cycle stages, as in the general average, there was no difference (P>0.05). Regarding the histomorphometric variables, gilts classified in FP presented a higher (P<0.05) height of glandular and UT epithelium compared to animals in LP. On the other hand, the diameter of endometrial glands was higher (P<0.05) in gilts at LP compared to FP. Furthermore, gilts in LP presented a higher (P<0.05) proportion of endometrium occupied by glands, whereas animals in FP had a higher (P<0.05) proportion of connective tissue and blood vessels. In conclusion, in prepubertal gilts, the histomorphometric parameters as endometrial glands diameter, the height of glandular epithelium and of UT epithelium and the proportion of 1 Received on February 7, 2013.Accepted for publication on January 9, 2014.

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“…The morphometric analysis did not show significant differences between antimeres (left vs right) in none of the evaluated parameters. Similar results were obtained by Oberlender [8] and Monteiro [9]. These authors reported the absence of significant morphometric differences between the reproductive organs from different antimeres (left vs right) in female young sows and cows, respectively.…”

“…The results for the ovarian morphometry were similar to those obtained by Bagg [12], which reported an average size of 2.41cm for the largest and 1.59cm for the smallest ovarian diameter. On the other hand, the ovarian weight and volume observed herein were smaller than previously reported [4,8]. These differences may be related to the studied animal category.…”

“…In the present study, the length and weight of uterine bodies, horns and tubes of prepurbetal gilts were smaller than those observed in previous studies. According to Oberlender [8] lengths of uterine horns and tubes varying from 32.5 to 96.5cm and from 16.5 to 26.8cm, respectively. These same authors related that weights of uterine horns and tubes varied from 15.7 to 72.9 g and from 0.6 to 1.7g, respectively.…”

“…The diameter of the glands measured from cervical and uterine horn samples did not vary significantly. In a previous study, Oberlender [8] reported that the mean diameter of gilt uterine glands may vary from 3.63 to 39.89 μm. Therefore, the results found in the present study are in agreement with the expected for this species.…”

Luminal and Glandular Epithelial Cells from the Porcine Endometrium maintain Cell Type-Specific Marker Gene Expression in Air–Liquid Interface Culture

“…Separation of glandular and luminal cells was ensured by isolation from different localizations within the tissue, microscopic inspection of the shape of isolated structures before dissociation into single cells, and subsequent gene expression analysis. Both cell types reproducibly formed polarized monolayers with a similar in vivo-like cell height and TEER after 3 weeks at the ALI [17,[38][39][40]. However, absolute numbers of the LE and GE cell layer height in vivo differed between studies [39][40][41] and comparison of in vivo and ALI-PEEC cell height is generally delicate, as cell height depends on sample processing, fixation and dehydration procedures which are not identical between studies and are also divergent for in vivo samples and in vitro samples from ALI cultures [42].…”