Ultrasonographic and macroscopic comparison of the thickness of the capsule, corium, and soft tissues in bovine claws: anin vitrostudy

Abstract

This study aimed to compare thickness of the capsule, corium, and soft tissues measured ultrasonographically and macroscopically in selected regions of bovine claws. A hundred and twenty claws (n = 120) of 15 healthy Holstein bovines were obtained. After cleaning the claws, ultrasonographic measurement of the capsule, corium, and soft tissues was performed while submerging the claws in a water bath. Macroscopic measurements were taken after cutting of the claws axially. These values were compared statistically. According to the macroscopic measurements, the mean thickness ± standard deviation (SD) of the capsule for dorsal wall and sole was 6.2 ± 0.1 and 9.5 ± 0.4 mm, respectively. The thickness of the corium and soft tissues for dorsal wall and sole was 4.5 ± 0.1 and 5.3 ± 0.1 mm, respectively. Ultrasonographically, the mean thickness ± SD of the capsule for dorsal wall and sole was 4.7 ± 0.1 and 7.8 ± 0.3 mm, respectively. The thickness of the corium and soft tissues for dorsal wall and sole was 4.3 ± 0.1 and 5.9 ± 0.2 mm, respectively. Findings demonstrated that ultrasonography can be reliably to measure of the thickness of the hoof capsule, corium, and soft tissue in bovine claw.

A prospective cohort study of digital cushion and corium thickness. Part 1: Associations with body condition, lesion incidence, and proximity to calving

“…In the current work, a 1-unit difference in BCS (approximately a 10-mm difference in BFT) corresponded with approximately a 0.13-mm difference in sole soft tissue thickness. The absolute thickness also differed: in the current work, the mean sole soft tissue thickness was approximately 50% thinner than that reported by Bicalho et al (2009), but was very similar to measurements reported in other work (Kofler et al, 1999;Toholj et al, 2014;Cecen et al, 2015). This could suggest that the scanning site used in the current study was different to that used by Bicalho et al (2009), who describe a scanning site more axially, whereas in this and in other works (Kofler et al, 1999;Toholj et al, 2014;Cecen et al, 2015), the scanning site was in the midline.…”

“…It was difficult to fully assess associations between measures of body fat and digital cushion thickness because other variables, such as integrity of the suspensory apparatus, appeared to influence sole soft tissue thickness. Further, although ultrasonography can precisely measure the thickness of the sole soft tissues beneath the distal phalanx (Kofler et al, 1999;Bicalho et al, 2009;Cecen et al, 2015), and high specification machines as used in this study can do so with high precision, it might not to be a good indicator of adipose content within the digital cushion. Recent work has found that nonpregnant dairy cows fed a higher energy diet before slaughter had greater upregulation of lipogenic genes within the digital cushion (Iqbal et al, 2016), but how negative energy balance or broader physiologic state interact with lipolytic pathways and mobilization of fat from the digital cushion is still unclear.…”

Changes in the soft-tissue thickness of the claw sole in Holstein heifers around calving

“…This should not affect the proportion of change in the thickness of the soft tissue, but it does affect the actual thickness, meaning that it is more challenging to make comparisons with other studies that describe STT using ultrasonography (Kofler et al, 1999;van Amstel et al, 2004;Bicalho et al, 2009;Toholj et al, 2014;Newsome et al, 2017a, b). Other studies have described ultrasonographic measurements of STT to be smaller than anatomical or computed tomographic measurements of the same structure (Cecen et al, 2015;Tsuka et al, 2019). In particular, when the sole horn thickness increases from less than 5 to greater than 10 mm, the ultrasonographic measurements seem to be proportionally smaller than anatomical and computed tomographic measurements (Bach et al, 2019;Tsuka et al, 2019).…”

Prepartum lameness on subsequent lactation in Holstein dairy cows

“…Many variables may contribute to changes in the digital cushion, including adipose tissue thickness, and these factors could probably affect the hoof-suspending apparatus such as parturition, laminar pathology or even prior poorly-understood, lameness-related physiological mechanisms that could incorporate insulin resistance and loss in body condition (BICALHO et al, 2009;CECEN et al, 2015;NEWSOME et al, 2017), besides the extrinsic risk factors, like environment and humidity. Further, recent research has identified that nonpregnant dairy cows fed on a high-energy diet prior to slaughter possessed greater up-regulation of the lipogenic genes within the digital cushion (IQBAl et al, 2016), Because the negative energy balance or physiological state with lipolytic pathways and fat mobilization of the padded digital cushion are not as yet clearly understood, it appears that lameness and its relationship with BCS and digital cushion remain an area which requires greater study and exploration.…”