Morphometric evaluation of myofibrillar hypoplasia in splayleg piglets.

A morphometric method was applied to evaluate the EMS (extramyofibrillar space) in cross-sections of the musculus adductor as a parameter for the grading of the myofibrillar hypoplasia in splayleg piglets. Although there was a great variability between the individual piglets for the EMS values, a highly significant difference between normal and splayleg piglets was noted. Using this method it was found that myofibrillar hypoplasia indeed is associated with the splayleg syndrome.