Cellular Changes in the Tissues of Lambs during Fetal Growth

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Abstract
The fetuses from 110 pregnant Targhee ewes that had been mated to Suffolk rams were studied at different stages of gestation to assess the hyperplasic (cell numbers) and hypertrophic (cell size) growth in tissues having early (brain), late (muscle) and intermediate (kidney, heart) development characteristics. Single lambs from ewes fed on a high plane (2.0 x maintenance) of nutrition had generally significantly higher levels of brain, heart, kidney and muscle tissue DNA, RNA and protein and the tissue mass was heavier than in other groups, by day 140 of gestation. The effects of multiparity were more pronounced than the nutritional effects probably because the degree of nutritional stress in the low plane (1.5 x maintenance) group was not very severe, for such large breeds of sheep as the Targhee. There was no evidence in this experiment that multiparity enhanced the effects of nutritional stress, but rather that single lambs were able to take advantage of high planes of nutrition. Cellular hyperplasia and hypertrophy were still evident in all tissues at day 140. Copyright © 1975. American Society of Animal Science. Copyright 1975 by American Society of Animal Science.

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