The development of ovary in quail’s embryo

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to study the development of ovary in quails’ embryos which were incubated for 4 to 17 days and incubated out for 1 day. The quails’ embryos or gonads were cut out and HE staining was carried out. The results showed that when embryo was hatched for 4 days, lots of primordial germ cells (PGCs) clustered in the region where gonad would be formed. On the 5th day of hatching, the gonad of the embryo began to be formed and exhibited the feature of ovary or testis. On the 7th hatching day, the right ovary began to degenerate, just a few PGCs began to differentiate into oogonia. On the 10th day, there were many oogonia in the ovary, some of which were surrounded by some other cells distributed like circles. On the 11th day, there were more oogonia, the skinniness became thicker while the medulla was thinner. On the 13th day, the division between skinniness and medulla was obvious and the ovary formed the early original ovum. On the 14th day, more original ovums were seen in the skinniness. On the 17th hatching day and on the 1st day of hatching out, the shape of ovary tended to be mature, also the ovum was clear and more; the medulla was full of vessels. On the 5th hatching day, gonad began to differentiate. On the 7th hatching day and later, the
differentiation of gonad was obvious; the right ovary began to degenerate. On the 13th hatching day, early original ovum began to be formed in the skinniness of ovary. The results established groundwork for the research of the development of gonads of quail and other poultry.

Key words: Quail, embryo, gonad, ovary.