In the present work, the prenatal morphological changes of the liver in the balady rabbits were studied. In the rabbit fetuses of 15-30 mm CVRL, the liver consists of right and left lobes separated by umbilical
Assiut Vet. Med. J. Vol. 36 No. 72, January 1997
fissure. The left lobe is divided into medial and lateral lobes. In the rabbit fetuses of 40-75 mm CVRL, the caudate and papillary processes are appeared and the hepatic ligaments are identified. The quadrate lobe was observed in the fetuses of 90-110 mm CVRL. In the early embryonic stage, the outlines of the hepatic lobules can be distinguished. The hepatocytes have different shapes, their cytoplasm shows small vacuoles. During further development, the hepatocytes increase in size, their cytoplasm becomes greatly vacuolated. These vacuoles are filled with fat droplets. The hemopoietic tissue is predominant in the early embryonic stage. It contains blood cellular elements of various developmental stages. With the advancement of age, this tissue decreases in amount, the intravascular non-nucleated blood cells increase on the expense of the nucleated ones. The blood sinusoids appear in the early developmental stage as narrow blood spaces which increase in number and size towards the term of gestation. The nuclear diameter of the hepatic cells is increased with the advancement of the fetal age. The gall bladder is demonstrated in the rabbit fetuses of 40-75 mm CVRL.