Surface Architectural Anatomy of the Penile and Preputial Epithelia of Bulls

Introduction

A common assumption is that older bulls are more likely to become chronically infected with Tritrichomonas foetus and Campylobacter fetus subsp. venerealis. One theory is that older bulls develop deeper penile and preputial epithelial folds as they age providing a protected, microaerophilic environment suitable for long-term maintenance of T. foetus and C. fetus. However, multiple case reports exist of young bulls developing chronic venereal infections and no published reports support the theory that older bulls develop deeper penile or preputial epithelial folds. In this study we compared the histological and surface architectural anatomy of penile and preputial epithelia between young and old bulls. [...]