Abstract :
The purpose of this study was to apply the endoscopic examination of teat duct and
cistern in dairy ewes and to compare the findings with those of the histopathological
examination. For this purpose, 524 dairy ewes’ teats were collected from three slaughterhouses
and examined endoscopically. All the abnormal teats were routinely fixed by
immersion in 10% neutral-buffered formalin, then embedded in paraffin wax and cut
into 5 m sections. Standard haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining procedure were
performed. The endoscopic findings were correlated with histopathological detections.
In a total of 524 teats examined, 74 (14.1%) of them had abnormal findings at teat
cistern and Fürstenberg’s rosette. The most common finding (37 teats or 50.0%) was
the thickness and nodular proliferation of the teat cistern. In 31 teats diaphragms at
teat cistern were noticed, while cysts and abnormal findings located at Fürstenberg’s
rosette were noticed only in 2 and 5 teats, respectively. Ten teats appeared to have
papilloma warts on the teat skin. Variations on colouring of the mucosa of teat cistern
were noticed in 24 cases. In 14 of them the teat cistern mucosa was red and in
10 was yellow. Endoscopic examination is effective and allows the evaluation of abnormalities
of the teat duct, teat cistern and Fürstenberg’s rosette ewes. Nevertheless, in
case of a post-mortem examination, the histopathological investigation is still indispensable
for the detailed and thorough evaluation of teat duct and cistern abnormalities.
