Morphologic Evaluation of the Fertilized and Unfertilized Ostrich Egg during the Early Stages of Development (MRI Analysis)

introduction: the magnetic resonance imaging (mri) technique permits to monitor thedevelopment of the embryo in vivo without causing any developmental defects. althoughincreasing application of mri imaging are predicted in veterinary sciences, there is littleinformation available about mri studies of avian embryos and their eggs. the objective ofthe present study was to evaluate the ostrich embryonic development in the first 18 days ofincubation using the mri technique. methods: fertilized and unfertilized ostrich eggs were incubated in standard condition. theeggs were removed from the incubator on days 2 to 18 post-incubation and exposed to 1.5tesla magnetic fields. results: the results showed that the structures of unfertilized eggs remained fairly constantover the 18 days of incubation but it was a significant change in fertilized eggs from 4th day. atearly stages, the considerable structures of the eggs such as wight/yellow yolk, albumen, aircell, latebra and neck of the lateral were revealed very clearly but the embryo and blood vesselscould not be visualized until the day 6 post-incubation. some details, such as eyes and amnioticsac, were also seen on day 10 of development. at later stages, the spherical shape of the yolkbecomes completely distorted, it was distributed across the middle of the egg and the yellowand white yolk layers were disappeared. conclusion: based on the findings, it is concluded that mri is a suitable technique forfollowing the development of a live ostrich embryo and its egg components at the first half ofthe incubation period.