Morphological aspects of the ovary of Columba livia (Gmelin) (Columbidae, Columbiformes)

Morphological aspects of the ovary of Columba livia (Gmelin) (Columbidae, Columbiformes)

Maria das Graças Ribeiro; Maria Eloiza de Oliveira Teles; Sandra Maria das Graças Maruch

Laboratório de Histologia Animal, Departamento de Morfologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Caixa Postal 2486, 31270-190 Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil

ABSTRACT

The study of the female genital system of Columba livia (Gmelin, 1789) is part of the research on the reproductive biology of Brazilian birds. This work describes the morphological aspects of the ovary of Columba livia, as well as the histological differences observed in the ovarian follicles during the ovocyte maturation process. Ten Columba livia females were studied, whose ovaries had been dissected, fixed in Bouin and Helly solutions, and histologically processed for staining (Hematoxylin-Eosin; Gomori's trichromic and Weigert's technique and Gomori's technique for connective tissue fibers). The ovary has an irregular surface, is located in the abdominal cavity, and relates to the cranial portion of the left kidney and caudal extremity of the left lung. Histological examination shows that the ovary is covered with simple cubical epithelium, underlined by loose connective tissue that continues internally, surrounding the follicles. The ovarian follicles were described, in their different stages of development, with basis on the morphological changes occurring in the ovocyte and in the layers that surround it, in each phase of maturation. Among the follicles, groups lof cells of two distinct types, surrounded by connective tissue, are observable: clear cells with a spherical nucleus, and acidophilic cells with a slightly elongated nucleus. The studies of the ovary of Columba livia reveal histological similarities between this species and Columbina talpacoli (Temminck, 1811), whose ovaries were examined by Ribeiro et al. (1991).

Key words: Columbidae, birds, genital apparatus, ovary

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The authors thank for the financial sponsoring from Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and from Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) and also for the valuable collaboration from the translator Maria da Glória A. Ferreira, from the photographic laboratory technician Ivone Carmo de Oliveira, from the librarian Maria Cecília de Souza Lima and from the biologist Sandra Resende Lima, in charge of the preparation of the material used in this study.

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Recebido em 19.VII.1994; aceito em 08.II.1995.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  22 July 2009
• Date of issue
  1995

History

• Accepted
  08 Feb 1995
• Received
  19 July 1994