Histomorphometric study of the goat stomach during prenatal development.

The aim of this study was to perform a morphometric analysis of the different structural tissue layers of the goat stomach to study their prenatal growth from mathematical models fitted to these morphometric data. A total of 90 embryos and fetuses were used, from the early stages of prenatal life until birth. The growth rate of the gastric wall was slower than that of body length; rumen was the stomach compartment displaying slowest growth. In the three non-glandular compartments, the epithelial layer grew faster than the gastric wall itself, while the growth rate of the abomasal epithelium declined in the early stages of development. A decline in growth rate was also observed for the lamina propria and submucosa in rumen and reticulum from the early embryonic stages, whereas in omasum and abomasum these layers continued to grow as gestation progressed. The tunica muscularis displayed consistent growth in all compartments, growing faster than the gastric wall. Serosa thickness increased as gestation progressed, displaying a decline in growth-rate only in the omasum. In conclusion, the dynamics of gastric wall growth were governed by the growth rate of each of the component tissue layers.