Three dimensional (3D) ultrasonographic and color Doppler studies of prenatal fetal development in ewe and postnatal testicular development in ram.
Abstract
The present study was conducted on 2 to 2.5 year age six Harnali ewes and Six Harnali prepubertal rams
maintained at sheep breeding farm, Deptt. AGB, LUVAS, Hisar. Rams were introduced to them and matings were
monitored and day of mating considered as day 0. Sequential ultrasonographic scanning was conducted twice a
week from day 20 to day 60, then weekly till the end of experiment in ewe to study the fetal development. To study
testicular development in lamb ram, scanning was done bimonthly from 2 weeks to 4 month; then weekly from 4
months to 6 months. The ultrasonographic images were obtained using Toshiba Nemio-XG 3D ultrasound machine
with intra-operative probe with 7.5 MHz frequency, convex 2D (5MHz) and 3D volumetric probe was used in both
studies. The embryo and amniotic vesicle were first observed on day 23 and 29, respectively. Complete organization
of the embryo into head, body and limb buds was detected by day 38. Ossification elements was observed in skull,
mandible, limbs, vertebral column and nasal bone on day 41, 44, 44, 50 and 56, respectively. The fetal crown-rump
length (CRL), BPD, chest depth (CD), abdominal diameter (AD), umblical cord diameter (UCD), ruminal length
(RL), placentome diameter (PLD), and kidney length (KL) increased continuously till the end of experiment from
first day of appearance except placentome which decreased in size after 97 days. The testicular parenchyma was
observed to be anechoic at beginning of the development of the testes and it became moderately echogenic as age
advanced. However, epididymal echogenicity observed lower as compared to testicular echogenicity. The
measurement of testicular length and width revealed that development of left and right testis with age is exactly the
same in Harnali lambs and are almost mirror image of each other. The epididymides dimensions increased with
advancement of age in direct proportions and a high degree of symmetry was observed in epididymis tail growth.
The peak systolic velocity (PSV) and end diastolic velocity (EDV) increased from day 38 to 139 days of gestation.
The pulsatile index (PI) and resistive index (RI) of blood flow showed a non-significant decrease throughout the
gestation. Similar trend was observed in blood flow parameters (PSV, EDV, PI, RI) to lamb testis as recorded in
pregnant ewe. Doppler data regarding blood circulation to umbilicus and testis obtained in the present study might
be useful in differentiation of normal and abnormal pregnancy and testicular development however, more studies are
needed in this field. 3D scanning of testis showed greater details of internal structure of testis as compared to 2D.
From the present study it is concluded that 3D scanning is more useful than 2D scanning to assess developmental
changes of fetus in utero and postnatal testis.
Description
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