COMPARATIVE HISTOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE INTEGUMENT IN BUFFALO AND COW

Abstract

This study was done to make a histological comparison between the epidermis of skin in buffaloes and cows. The samples were taken from six body areas (muzzle, neck, thorax, dorsum, abdomen and perineum). The present results revealed that, the skin in buffaloes was thicker and stronger than that of the cow in all regions of the body. Generally, the skin of buffalo and cow consist of two main layers, epidermis and dermis. The epidermis of the skin in both animals consists of four clear and prominent layers except the stratum lucidum which was not present. In buffalo, all layers of the epidermis presented high number of melanocytes in comparison with that of cow which showed few numbers in all studied regions except the muzzle region in which the number increased. The epidermis of the buffalo contained more number of epidermal ridges in comparison with that of the cow. The dermis of the skin in both animals subdivided into indistincted layers, the upper papillary and the inner reticular layers. There is no sharp demarcation between the two layers of the dermis.