Animal Molecular Breeding 2016, Vol.6, No.4, 1-10
9
nuclei. This suggests that auricle in the grey breasted HGF is associated with auditory functions.
Histological observation at 11th day indicated that the primordium of the cerebellum was found to be made up of
cerebellar anlage that was composed of inner and outer mantle layers. Hallonet et al. (1990) in their studies on
birds reported that numerous compact cells from the cranial mesencephalic vesicle moved caudally to contribute
to this developing anlage. The ventricular neuroepithelium and the external germinal layer appeared on the 11th
day as opposed to those observed in the chicken (9th day of incubation) (Serdar and Amrah, 2010). These regions
are the most active parts that contribute to cerebellar neurogenesis even at post-hatch (FeiRabaend, 1990).
Foliation was completed on day 13 and future Purkinje cells were observed to align at the inner cortical layer on
day 18 of incubation. On the 23th day pre hatch, numerous immature migratory cells moved from the dark stained
granule cells toward the inner cortical layer. This suggests that prior to hatching, immature Purkinje cells from the
deeper layer, the ventricular neuroepithelium, migrated mainly toward the surface of the granular layer as a result
of nuclear cells that coalesced in the cortical and marginal layers during early neurogenesis (Altman and Bayer,
1985a). Redies et al. (2002) observed that cell raphes consisted of migrating dark granule cells between the
Purkinje cell clusters at intermediate stage of pre-hatch in chicken. The molecular and granular layers in this study
were prominent but the single row of immature Purkinje cells, non-distinctive nucleoli and traces of the EGL were
only eminent on day 26 of incubation. This varies with the observation of Espinar et al. (1997) in chicken in
which the Purkinje cells formed a single row on day 17 of incubation.
At week 4 post-hatch, Purkinje cells appeared as pear-shaped in a single row at the junction between molecular
and granular layers and displayed prominent nucleoli, dendrites and centrally located deeply-stained nucleoli.
5 Conclusion
In the grey breasted HGF, cerebellum was first observed on day 11 of incubation where the cerebellar anlage and
the ventricular neuroepithelium were formed. Fissures, vermis, foliation and single row of Purkinje cells were
formed during the pre-hatch. The EGL persisted for a short while but thined out a month after hatching.
Acknowledgement
My sincere appreciation to Mr Tobias P. Choji, NVRI Vom; Mr Peter and Mr Bamidele, both of the Faculty of
Medicine, A.B.U., Zaria.
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