SKULL ABNORMALITIES ASSOCIATED WITH ANOPHTHALMOS CONDITION IN CHICKS.

Orbital asymmetry and the skeletal abnormalities associated with anophthalmos condition was studied using six each of hatched and unhatched chicks, using Toluidine Blue - Alizarin Red S staining of cartilage and bone protocol. Of these birds, one each of unilateral anophthalmos was also associated with beak deformities. Orbital part of the frontal bone, interorbital septum, horizontal plate of ethmoid bone and lacrimal bone were found defective in the affected side. Jugal bone was absent on the affected side and all these deformities collectively contributed to the deformed orbit. Etiology of these skeletal deformities and anophthalmos may be attributed to spontaneous and genetic aberrations, indicated by the mismatching between nucleotides at various locations in the ovomucoid gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]