Development of some intestinal endocrine cell populations in water buffalo

The occurrence and distribution of different endocrine cell types in the gastrointestinal tract of large and small domestic mammals have been extensively studied (Ceccarelli et al. 1995; Agungpriyono et al.2000). Some studies have been also carried out on the ontogeny of gut endocrine cells in mammals (Ono et al. 1994), and only few in ruminant. (Kitamura et al. 1985; Guilloteau et al. 1997). In order to complete a previous study regarding postnatal development of intestinal endocrine cells (Lucini et al. 1999), in this study we report the appearance and distribution of some endocrine cell types in the gut of water buffalo during foetal development.