Title
Morphology of alpaca (Vicugna pacos) embryos in the first third of pregnancy
Date Issued
2018
Access level
restricted access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Castro A.N.C.
Díaz M.C.
Ghezzi M.D.
Barbeito C.G.
Publisher(s)
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Abstract
The breeding of South American camelids is the main economic activity of the high Andean region of South America and it, is potentially, the most profitable resource in of the Puna environmental conditions of the Puna. The duration of the gestation in alpaca is 339.7 ± 12 days. The objective of the present work was to macroscopically and microscopically describe the ontogenic development of the splanchnic cavities of the alpaca and to determine the gestational time in which the post-cranial ossification centers are observed in the embryos/fetuses of this species, from day 21 to 107 of gestation. The documentation of normal ontogenic development, which is vacant for this period, is of the utmost importance to understand the consequences of the alterations at the different gestational times, as well as for the estimation of the gestational age in the case of abortions. Forty-seven alpaca specimens of both sexes, at different times of their gestational development, collected during slaughter at local slaughterhouses of the Department of Huancavelica, Peru, were evaluated. Specimens were assigned to seven groups according to their morphological characteristics. The embryogenesis in the alpaca was characterized by a series of changes comparable to those occurring in other mammals with similar gestational periods. Despite these similarities, species differences were found in some organs as stomach, which are observed too in adult individuals. © 2018 Blackwell Verlag GmbH
Start page
655
End page
666
Volume
53
Issue
3
Number
1
Language
English
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85044230206
PubMed ID
Source
Reproduction in Domestic Animals
ISSN of the container
0936-6768
Sponsor(s)
This work was financed by MINCyT (Argentina) and CONCyTEC (Perú).
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica