A SCANNING ELECTRON-MICROSCOPE STUDY OF THE STRUCTURAL COMPONENT OF THE BOVINE VAGINAL FLUID AT ESTRUS

The ultrastructure of the vaginal fluid of cows at oestrus was analyse d by scanning electron microscopy. Samples of vaginal fluid were colle cted from 7 normally cycling and healthy cows, 3 to 4 years of age, in oestrus. Evaluation of the patterns of crystallization was used as a previous assessment of the quality of the samples. SEM images revealed a structure made up of non-oriented filaments constituting a network with a three-dimensional arrangement. These filaments were of differen t diameters and ranged between 50 and 400 nm. Mesh size, defined as th e minimum distance measurement between strands, ranged between 2 to 8 mu m.