Abstract:
The development of the Purkinje fibre (PF) of the camel foetus was studied in
dromedary camel foetuses during the three gestational periods. A total of 30 hearts
were used, the hearts were collected from Tamboul and Al-Salam slaughterhouses,
Sudan. The samples were prepared by routine histological procedures and stained by
the general histological stain (H&E) and special stains. In the first trimester PF were
embedded in cardiac muscle fibres close to the ventricular endocardium. In second
trimester, some of PF were embedded in the connective tissue, some fibres contained
two nuclei. The striation was clear in peripheral parts of some fibres. At 178 second
trimester days of gestation most of fibres contained two nuclei and the cytoplasm
around the nuclei was light. At the third trimester PF appeared as bundles of fibres
parallel to myocardial muscles. They were also embedded in the endocardial
connective tissue as groups or separate fibre. They were embedded in the myocardium
in the first trimester and either between the endocardium and myocardium or within
the myocardium in the second and third trimesters. It was concluded that most of
Purkinje fibres were not found in their normal location till the last stages of
pregnancy, which means that PF continue their developmental changes after birth.
