Morphometric and Ultrastructural Changes in Ciliated Cells of the Oviductal Epithelium in Prolific Chinese Meishan and Large White Pigs during the Oestrous Cycle

Abstract

There are some differences in reproductive features between the Chinese Meishan (CM) pig and Large White (LW) pig. The aim of the present study was to investigate the quantitative changes and ultrastructural features of ciliated cells in the various regions of the CM and LW pig oviduct during the follicular and luteal phases of the oestrous cycle. In the fimbrial and ampullar epithelia at the follicular phase, the ciliated cells were more plentiful than in the isthmic region in both pigs. In the CM pigs, there was a striking decrease in the percentage and cell height of ciliated cells in the luteal phase compared with the follicular phase. Although similar quantitative changes were observed in the LW pig oviduct, these changes were less dramatic than that in the CM pig oviduct. In both pigs, the percentage and cell height of ciliated cells in the isthmus were unchanged between the follicular and luteal phases. The ultrastructure of ciliogenic and ciliated cells was observed. In the fimbrial and ampullar epithelia during the follicular phase, most of the ciliated cells showed normal morphology, having many elongated cilia and mitochondria, but in the CM pig oviduct during the luteal phase many of the ciliated cells possessed immature cilia and swollen mitochondria. Cells undergoing ciliogenesis were frequently observed in the fimbriae and ampulla, and occasionally in the isthmus. Cytoplasmic protrusions containing variable numbers of ciliary axonemal complexes occurred in the fimbrial and ampullar epithelium in the CM pigs at the luteal phase, suggesting that deciliation of cells occurs by membrane-bound cilia packets forming at the apices of cells and pinching off. These results demonstrate that there are regional variations in the cyclic changes associated with the oviductal ciliated cells of the pigs, while there are marked morphometrical and ultrastructural changes in oviductal ciliated cells of the CM pigs compared with that of the LW pigs.

The Oviduct: Functional Genomic and Proteomic Approach

“…2006). In pig, a morphometric analysis even showed differences in the epithelial cells between two breeds (Abe and Hoshi 2008). In addition to these anatomical and histological differences, there are species‐specific differences in the physiology of the oviduct.…”

Observaciones sobre la Morfología del Oviducto del Coipo (Myocastor coypus)

“…El epitelio oviductal del coipo conformado por dos tipos principales de células, ciliadas y secretorias, fue semejante al descripto en muchos animales de laboratorio como la rata (Abe & Hoshi, 2008), el hámster dorado (Mesocricetus auratus) (Abe & Oikawa, 1991), el jerbo de Mongolia (Meriones unguiculatus) (Almeida et al, 2001) y dos histricomorfos como el cobayo (Nakahari et al, 2011) y la vizcacha de llanura (Flamini et al). También fue semejante al de la coneja (Özen et al, 2010), la oveja (Lewis & Berardinelli, 2001), la yegua (Desantis et al, 2011) y la cerda (Abe & Hoshi).…”

Morphometric Study of the Mare Oviductal Mucosa at Different Reproductive Stages

“…in the mouse (Nieder and Macon, ), rat (Abe and Abe, ), pig (Buhi et al, ), sheep (Buhi et al, ), baboon (Verhage and Fazleabas, ), human (Hyde and Black, ), goat (Gandolfi et al, ), and cow (Gerena and Killian, ). Cyclic morphometrical, ultrastructural, and histochemical changes in the oviductal epithelium have been studied in several mammalian species (Abe, ; Nayak and Ellington, ; Steinhauer et al, ; Abe and Hoshi, ; Desantis et al, ). These changes appear to respond to gonadal steroids concentrations across reproductive stages.…”