Histological Study of Prenatal Development of the Spleen in Camel (Camelus Dromedarius)

Spleen development in the camel foetus was studied during the 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd trimesters of gestation using histological techniques. Ten spleens of camel foetuses were collected from Omran slaughterhouse, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. The samples were prepared by routine histological procedures and stained by the general histological stain (H and E) and some other special stains including Van Geison’s for collagenous fibres, Verhoff’s for elastic fibres, Gordon and Sweet for reticular fibres. At the 1 st trimester, the spleen capsule was composed of fine connective tissue fibres, in the 2 nd trimester the capsule and trabeculae showed thick connective tissue, while in the 3 rd trimester the capsule also showed smooth muscle fibres and surrounded with large amount of adipose tissue. The parenchyma, at the 1st trimester consisted of randomly distributed lymphocytes and macrophages. At the 2 nd and 3 rd trimesters, it was arranged as white and red pulps. Megakaryocytes observed previously in the red pulp of adult dromedary camel were seen in the red pulp at the 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd trimesters of gestation. It was concluded that the spleen showed very important histological developmental changes throughout the three gestational stages.