Determination of perimysial and fascicular diameters of triceps brachii, biceps brachii and deltoid muscles in Zebu cattle and one-humped camels

Abstract

In this study, forelimbs from 25 male camels and 25 male cattle between the ages of 6 months to 7 years were obtained from Sokoto Municipal Modern abattoir. Triceps brachii, biceps brachii and deltoideus muscles were dissected out, and 1cm² from each muscle type was fixed in 10% formalin for normal H&E histological preparation. The prepared slides were viewed using a microscope and photomicrographs obtained which were further transferred into a computer for histometric evaluation. In this study, it was observed that all the muscles studied presented normal histomorphology of a typical skeletal muscle, it was discovered that the biceps brachii muscle from camel aged 7 years had higher and significant value for the perimysial diameter compared to that of cattle. Similarly, it was shown that there is an overall significantly higher value of perimysial diameter in the camel than the cattle generally. Fascicular diameter revealed that the triceps brachii of cattle aged 7 years had the highest significant value, however, the general overall average value for the fascicular diameter proved the camel to have highest significant values, indicating larger muscular tissues. Knowledge obtained in this study could find application to clinical histopathologist and also help in bridging the paucity of information in this subject area.

Keywords: Biceps brachii, Deltoideus, Fascicular diameter, Perimysial, Triceps brachii