Histoarchitectural study of mammary alveoli on lactation, involution and pregnant stage in Murrah buffalo

Present experiment was conducted on sixty Murrah buffalo divided into three groups: lactating, involution stage/dry and pregnant stage (non-lactating early pregnant stage, non-lactating mid pregnant stage and non-lactating late pregnant stage). Most of the alveoli were spherical to oval elongated in shape. In lactating stage, only small and medium sized alveoli were present. In involuting stage due to degeneration and inactiveness only small alveoli were recorded. In non-lactating late pregnant stage most of the alveoli were large sized. A highly significant statistical difference was noted among different stages of lactation in the diameter of alveoli. The active alveoli were lined by cuboidal epithelium to low cuboidal epithelium, while resting alveoli were lined by squamous epithelium with dark nuclei. The number of resting alveoli were found increased with the advancement of lactation. Up to two months of involution most of the alveoli were degenerative. A highly significant statistical difference was noted in the height of alveolar epithelium in different stages of lactation.