X-ray picture of the limb osteo-articular apparatus of calves of the Sofia brown breed of cattle
Binev, K.
Veterinarno-Meditsinski Nauki 13(6): 52-58
1976
ISSN/ISBN: 0324-1068 PMID: 1014363 Document Number: 106697
X-ray investigations were carried out on 10 three-month-old and 10 six-month-old calves (each group consisting of 5 male and 5 female animals) of the Sofia Brown cattle breed in order to obtain and study the normal roentgenologic picture of the bone-and-joint apparatus of the limbs. It was established that in this breed's calves the contours of the bones are clearly delineated and assume an angular configuration after the age of three months, which later on becomes more pronouncedly expressed. At the insertion points of the tendo-ligamentous apparatus there appear in the distal parts of the bones, in a volar and plantar aspect an uneveness, which is likewise more strongly manifested with the advance in age. The structural picture of substantia spongiosa in the metaepiphyseal, heel, shoulder, and elbow processes assume the so-called moderate spottiness, and in some parts in the case of six-month-old calves there is rough spottiness. The medullary canal becomes more clearly visible in six-month-old calves that it is in the three-month-old ones. The relief of the metaepiphyseal portions roughens in the older calves, is uneven and becomes more compact. With the advance in age the deeper layer in the joint cartilage is replaced by the growing subchondral bone lamina, this leads to the thinning of the cartilage and the diminishing of the roetgenologically visible joint fissure. Such phenomenon is observed in all joints up to the age of six months, and fluctuates in size within the range of 1,5 to 3 mm. The only exception is the knee joint where, owing to the menisci the joint fisure is wider (about 5 mm). The joint fissures in six-month-old calves, in contrast to the three-month-old ones, are with better manifested contours.