Volume 4 • Issue 1 • 1000131 Anat Physiol ISSN:2161-0940 Physiol, an open access journal Open Access Research Article Bello et al., Anat Physiol 2014, 4:1 DOI: 10.4172/2161-0940.1000131 Keywords: Camel; Embryonic diferenciation; Gross; Stomach Introduction Camels are in the taxonomic order Artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates), sub order Tylopoda (pad-footed), and Family Camelidae [1,2]. Tey are pseudo-ruminants that possess a three-chambered stomach, lacking the omasum that is part of the four-chambered stomach of the order Ruminantia [2,3]. Te true camels (Camelus dromedarius and Camelus bacterianus) are closely related anatomically to the South American Camelids (Llama, Alpaca, Vicuna and Guanaco [4]. Tylopoda and Ruminantia independently developed forestomach during evolution [2,5]. Species of both suborders of Artiodactyla ruminate have large forestomach with extensive microbial digestion to achieve a superior digestibility of diets rich in cell wall constituents. However, gross anatomy and the microscopic structure of the forestomach mucosa are very diferent in camelids compared to ruminants [1,6-10]. Research work dealing with morphology, physiology, pathology, gross and developmental anatomy of various organs and system of dromedarian camel has been carried out in many countries using foetal and adult camel [1-3,5,9,11-16] but little attentions have been paid for the developmental changes of the entire stomach of the camel fetus. Tus, paucity of information on the prenatal development of camel stomach exists; hence the present study was undertaken to bridge the information gap. Materials and Methods Te study was carried out on 35 foetuses of the one-humped camel collected from the metropolitan abattoir, Sokoto using standard animal ethics approved by the government, at diferent gestational ages. Te collected foetuses were then taken to the Veterinary Anatomy laboratory of Usmanu Danfodiyo University; where the weight and age of the foetus were determined. Te foetal body weight was measured using electrical (digital) weighing balance for the smaller foetuses and compression spring balance (AT-1422), size C-1, sensitivity of 20kg X 50g in Kilogram for the bigger foetuses. Te approximate age of the foetuses was estimated by using the following formula adopted by El- wishy et al. [17]. GA=(CVRL + 23.99)/0.366, Where GA is age in days and CVRL is the Crown Vertebral Rump Length. Fetuses below 130 days were designated as frst trimester, 13-260 days as second trimester and 261-390 days as third trimester [2]. Crown Vertebral Rump Length (CVRL) was measured (cm) as a curved line along the vertebral column from the point of the anterior fontanel or the frontal bone following the vertebral curvature to the base of the tail. Based on this, foetal samples were divided into 3 main groups as described by Bello et al. [5]. Te digestive tract of each fetus was collected by placing the fetus on dorsal recumbency and a mid-ventral skin incision was made via the abdomino-pelvic region down to the thoracic, to the neck up to the inter-mandibular space in order to remove the entire digestive tract. Te length, width and diameter of the various segments of the stomach were measured. Te length of the rumen was taken from *Corresponding author: Bello A, Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria, Tel: +234(0)8039687589; E-mail: abccrcfge28@gmail.com Received December 14 2013; Accepted January 02 2014; Published January 04 2014 Citation: Bello A, Onyeanusi BI, Sonfada ML, Adeyanju JB, Umaru MA, et al. (2014) Gross Embryonic Diffrentiation of the Stomach of the One Humped Camel (Camelus dromedarius). Anat Physiol 4: 131. doi:10.4172/2161-0940.1000131 Copyright: © 2014 Bello A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract An embryonic gross differentiation study was conducted on the stomach of 35 foetuses of the one-humped camel collected from the Sokoto metropolitan abattoir, over a period of fve months at different gestational ages. The approximate age of the fetuses was estimated from the crown vertebral rump length (CVRL) and samples were categorised into frst, second and third trimester. The mean body weight of the foetus at frst, second third trimester ranged from 1.40 ± 0.06 kg, 6.10 ± 0.05 kg and 17.87 ± 0.6 kg, respectively. The mean weights of the entire digestive system at frst, second and third trimester were 0.80 ± 0.07 kg, 2.13 ± 0.04 kg and 4.86 ± 0.08 kg respectively. The mean weights of the digestive tract at frst, second and third trimester were 0.53 ± 0.07 kg, 1.03 ± 0.05 and 2.43 ± 0.07 kg, respectively. Camels’ stomach was observed to comprise of the voluminous smooth compartment rumen, a relatively small beans shape reticulum and a tubular abomasum at frst trimester. At second and third trimester the stomach was found to comprise of a voluminous compartment I (rumen) which is subdivided by a strong muscular pillar into a dorsal smooth part and a ventral coarse part, a relatively small compartment II (reticulum) and a tubiform compartment III (Abomasum). Based on the fndings in the study, camels’ stomach had little/few similarities with true ruminant in terms of development. Gross Embryonic Diffrentiation of the Stomach of the One Humped Camel (Camelus dromedarius) Bello A 1 *, Onyeanusi BI 2 , Sonfada ML 1 , Adeyanju JB 3 , Umaru MA 4 and Onu JE 1 1 Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria 2 Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria 3 Department of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria 4 Department of Theriogenology and Animal production, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria Anatomy & Physiology: Current Research A n a t o m y & P h y s i o l o g y: C u r r e n t R e s e a r c h ISSN: 2161-0940