Morphological studies in the buffalo as a contribution to biotechnological methodologies in the animal production

The researchers in the morphological area of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Naples are long since carrying out investigations on the buffalo. This is due to the paucity of data in the literature of the field as well as scientific interest for many aspects of the biology of this species like the seasonality of the sexual cicle. The studies that have been done are numerous and regard many different fields as the chromosome map, spermatogenesis, histogenesis of the endocrine pancreas, blood circulation and innervation, and the structure and ultrastructure of several organs. In the present lecture, more recent and interesting results are reported regarding the blood circulation and peripheral innervation of several organs and the structure an ultrastructure of tracts of the digestive system. In particular, the following topics are presented: the evolution of the coronaric circle during the embryonic development; the hypophyseal ciculation; the morphology of sensitive corpuscles in the external genital organs and in the reticular groove. In addition, data regarding the structure, the ultrastructure of the stomach wall and the role of each mucosal layer in the stomach functions are reported. The results of these morphological studies costitute a scientific background which is essential in the field of the applicative biotechnology