Indian Journal of Small Ruminants (The)

A study was undertaken to record the sequential account of the structural changes in the development of adrenal cortex with an aim to record the histological changes in different parts of adrenal gland at different stages of gestation. A total of 24 healthy and normal embryos/foeti of non-descript goats (Capra hircus) varying from day old to 150 days of gestation were used for the study. The embryo/foeti were assigned into three groups according to their gestational ages; Gr-I (0–50 days), II (51–100 days) and III (101 days-till term). The primordium of the adrenal gland observed at 38 days of gestation composed of cluster of loosely arranged cells in the form of indistinct whorls in the close proximity of cranial extremity of metanephros. Both large and small cells were observed in the primordium. At 69 days of gestation, the cells just below the capsule were stained darker than other cortical cells referred as definitive cortex (zona glomerulosa). Process of degeneration of foetal cortical cells was enhanced as the age advanced. Zona fasciculata clearly differentiated at 130 days of gestation. Only two zones of adrenal gland (zona glomerulosa and zona fasciculata) were observed. The increment of definitive cortex was more than foetal cortex.