COMPARATIVE THREE DIMENSIONAL COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY (CT) SCANS AND ANATOMICAL INVESTIGATION OF RABBIT (Oryctolagus cuniculus) AND CAT (Felis domestica) SKULL

Abstract

This study was conducted to elucidate the comparative anatomical features of the skull of rabbits and cats using CT scans. Adult healthy New Zealand rabbits and Domestic Baladi cats of both sexes, were prepared for X-ray and CT scan of the heads at different positions. The heads were also processed for bone preparation and were photographed at various views. Some measurements were taken to exhibit the main differences between the two animal species. There was a cranial pharyngeal canal in the basisphenoid bone of rabbit, which was absent in cat. The retroarticular process situated caudal to the mandibular fossa in cat and absent in rabbit. The carotid foramen was large and situated only in rabbit ventromedial to the bulla tympanica. The supraorbital process of rabbit extended anteriorly and posteriorly forming rostral and caudal supraorbital fissures. The orbit was located laterally in rabbit rostrally in cat. The facial surface of the maxilla was perforated by several formina in rabbit. A large retroalveolar foramen was found only in the mandible of rabbit. The condyloid process of the mandible was large and present longitudinally in rabbit and transversally in cat. Also, the hyoid bones and the paranasal sinuses were compared at both animals. The hyoid bone located in the mandibular space in rabbit and caudal to this space in cat. The lingual process of the hyoid bone was absent in cat. The middle and great cornuae of the hyoid bone were absent in rabbit. The paranasal sinuses of rabbit were maxillary and ethmoidal sinuses. While in cat, there were frontal, sphenoidal and maxillary sinuses. The combination between the traditional gross morphology of the skulls, X-ray and scan aimed to clarify and confirm all the points of comparison between the two animal species used, which was not achieved by using only one method of them.

Anatomical, histological, and surface ultrastructural evaluation of the palatal mucosa of domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

“…The bony palate consisted of the palatine processes of the incisive bone (rostrally), the palatine processes of the maxillae (in the middle), and the horizontal part of the palatine bone (caudally). Similarly, Moselhy and Mahdy (2019) reported that the bony compartment of the hard palate is mostly formed by the palatine processes of the incisive bone, while the horizontal part of the palatine bone forms about eighth of it. The bony palate was characterized by presence of palatine fissure that appeared as an elongated heart‐shape with its base directed caudally.…”

“…Due to absence of canines, a large gap, the diastema, separated the incisors from premolar teeth. The diastema is a characteristic feature of herbivorous animals including lagomorphs (Brewer, 2006; Moselhy & Mahdy, 2019; Smith, 2013), rodents (Vaughan, Ryan, & Czaplewski, 2015), Artiodactylae, and Perissodactylae (Sachdev et al, 2020). It is longer in in grass eating animals than in leaf eating ones (Ardran, kemp, & Ride, 1958).…”

Examination of the morphometric features and three-dimensional modelling of the skull in Van cats by using computed tomographic images

“…Also, the skull indices obtained from these cranial measurements are quite effective in distinguishing or identifying morphological types (21). For this reason, various craniometric measurements have been used in the studies in determining the morphological variations between the domestic and wild cat species (6,8,14,30,(35)(36)(37).…”

“…The medical imaging methods such as computed tomography is used commonly in displaying skull and the related complex anatomic structures especially in the pets such as cat, obtaining craniometric and volumetric measurement values from these images, and assessing the pathological conditions in the region (14,23). The present study is the first attempt to determine the morphometric and volumetric values of skull using CT and three -dimensional modelling in adult Van cats and reveal the biometric differences of these values between the males and the females.…”

“…Significant changes have taken place in anatomy education by means of the technological developments in medical imaging and computer-aided learning fields, various software developed, and three -dimensional modelling (2). Especially in the small pets such as cats, the computed tomography and three-dimensional modelling programs are used as a standard imaging method in the imaging of skull and the anatomic structures around it and monitoring the changes in these structures (14,23). Also, skull and various extracranial and intracranial pathological structures around it may be determined and the effectiveness of treatment may be evaluated using these imaging methods and three -dimensional modelling software (23,44).…”