Abstract
The current study aimed to screen the growth and viability of embryo from Day 21 to Day 56 post-breeding in Egyptian buffaloes. Twenty buffaloes were synchronized and examined serially by means of real-time B-mode ultrasound equipped with 12 MHz endorectal transducer. The developing embryonic sac diameter (ESD), crown rump length (CRL), head diameter (HD), trunk diameter (TD), and eye ball diameter (EBD) were measured. The heart rate and cardiac blood flow were sequentially examined to verify the fetal viability using color Doppler mode. Data showed the feasibility of first detection and measurement of ESD, CRL, HD, TD and EBD from Day 24.33 ± 0.67, 27.00 ± 1.73, 34.67 ± 1.76, 34.67 ± 0.88 and 33.67 ± 0.88, respectively. The fetal heart rate was 232.00 ± 12.35 beat/min at the day of first examination (Day 24.50 ± 1.30) after breeding. The cardiac blood flow was examined from Day 27 onwards. A highly significant (P< 0.0001) correlations were recorded between the ESD (r2=0.55), CRL (r2=0.85), HD (r2=0.85), TD (r2=0.93) and EBD (r2=0.85) and fetal age in buffaloes. It could be concluded that the high-frequency ultrasonography is a valuable diagnostic tool for the detection of early pregnancy from Day 24-26 post-breeding in Egyptian buffaloes. Verification of fetal heart beating (starting from Day 24-26) and cardiac blood flow (starting from Day 26-27) provide a reliable non-invasive promising technique for the fetal viability evaluation. The high correlation between TD and fetal age signified its clinical value, over other estimated fetometric parameters, in determining gestation period in Egyptian buffaloes during early pregnancy.
Highlights
Ever since its introduction into human obstetrics in the late 1950s and thereafter in veterinary field in 1980s, ultrasound has essentially participated in the characterization of the normal embryo and fetal development, and the detection of intrauterine growth retardation (Kӓhn, 2004)
In the current study, ultrasound monitoring of buffalo gestation was carried out from the thirdweek post-breeding with the feasibility of embryonic mass detection from 24.33 ± 0.67, 27.00 ± 1.73, 34.67 ± 1.76, 34.67 ± 0.88 and 33.67 ± 0.88 days for embryonic sac diameter (ESD), crown rump length (CRL), head diameter (HD), trunk diameter (TD) and eye ball diameter (EBD), respectively (Fig. 1)
One of the earliest signs affirmed its viability, was detectable at Day 24.50 ± 1.30 post-breeding with heart rate was 232.00 ± 12.35 beat/min
Summary
Ever since its introduction into human obstetrics in the late 1950s and thereafter in veterinary field in 1980s, ultrasound has essentially participated in the characterization of the normal embryo and fetal development, and the detection of intrauterine growth retardation (Kӓhn, 2004). Improvements in the image quality and scanning ability allow the speculation of greater anatomical details, which in turn guide to more sophisticated analysis of pregnancies' progression in bovines (White et al, 1985; Kähn, 1989; Ali, 2004; Rosiles et al, 2005). According to the best of our knowledge, few ultrasonographic studies examined normal embryo/fetal development in buffaloes (Awasthi et al, 2011; Ferreira et al, 2012; Naikoo et al, 2013), the Egyptian native breed The current study aimed to monitor the fetal viability and development during early pregnancy (from 21-56 days post-breeding) in Egyptian buffaloes, and establish a biometric threshold of the embryonic vesicle and different
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