Cerebral ventricular size in developing normal kittens measured by ultrasonography.
To evaluate the age of fontanelle closure of normal kittens and the size of their lateral ventricles, 50 ultrasonographic examinations using the bregmatic fontanelle as an acoustic window were made. Seven kittens, laboratory animals, were included in the study. To verify the location of the lateral ventricle, two of the kittens were sacrificed as neonates. In one of them ink was injected prior to autopsy into one lateral ventricle under sonographic guidance. In a longitudinal study of five of the kittens, the skull depth and the depth of the central part of the lateral ventricle reproduced in a longitudinal view could be measured up to the age of about 5 months. During that period, the skull depth increased from a median value of 1.95 cm (1.92-1.98) in a seven-day-old cat to 2.58 cm (2.52-2.59) in a 154-day-old cat, while the afore-mentioned ventricle values increased from 0.3 mm to 1.1 mm.
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences, Box 7037, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
Karin Hultin
KH
Jäderlund
Kerstin
K
Hansson
Anna-Lena
AL
Berg
Anders
A
Sjöström
Kristina
K
Narfström
D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000254:growth & development*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000662:veterinary