Calculation of cerebral hemispheres volume values (grey matter, white matter and lateral ventricle) of sheep and goat: A stereological study

Stereology is a discipline that allows us to obtain quantitative information about the geometric structure of three-dimensional objects. In this study, the volume of grey matter (GM), white matter (WM), and lateral ventricle (LV) of the cerebral hemispheres (CH) in sheep and goats were calculated. For this purpose, six healthy male sheep and goat brains (1–2 years old) without any anomaly were used. Brains were fixed with 10% formaldehyde in the skull. The skull was opened using standard anatomical dissection methods, and the brains were carefully removed. Brain weight and volume were measured (using Archimedes' principle) after the meninges were removed. The cerebral hemispheres were separated from the other parts of the brain by a section made in front of the rostral colliculus. In the same way, the weight and volume of the cerebral hemispheres were measured. Afterward, the cerebral hemispheres were blocked with agar, and transversal cross sections (from rostral to caudal) with an average thickness of 3.42 mm were taken from the cerebral hemispheres. Grey matter was stained with Berlin blue macroscopic staining method. The stained cross sections were scanned at 600 dpi resolution, and a point counting grid was placed on the images with the ImageJ software. Cavalieri's principle calculated the surface area and volume measurements of the grey matter, white matter, and lateral ventricle. GM, WM, and LV volumes in sheep and goat cerebral hemispheres were calculated as 54.94, 21.48 and 3.06 mL in sheep, 57.46, 24.13 and 3.12 mL in goats, respectively. The percentages of these structures in the total hemisphere volume were 71.83%, 28.17% and 4.00% in sheep, 70.42%, 29.58% and 3.82% in goats, respectively. Asymmetry was not observed in cerebral hemispheres in both species. A difference was found in the WM, LV and LV: CH ratios in the right/left comparison of the goat (p < 0.05). In comparing sheep and goats, a significant difference was observed in WM right, WM left, WM total, CH left and CH total (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the cerebral hemispheres' grey matter and white matter ratio are frequently used to diagnose neurodegenerative diseases. In recent years, the increase in neurodegenerative disease models in farm animals has been enormous. It is thought that these values obtained from healthy animals in the current study will be important for such experimental studies in the future.