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. 2021 Apr 8;11(4):1052.
doi: 10.3390/ani11041052.

Long-Term Recording of Reticulo-Rumen Myoelectrical Activity in Sheep by a Telemetry Method

Małgorzata Wierzbicka  1 , Małgorzata Domino  1 , Romuald Zabielski  1 , Zdzisław Gajewski  1
Affiliations

Long-Term Recording of Reticulo-Rumen Myoelectrical Activity in Sheep by a Telemetry Method

Małgorzata Wierzbicka et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

The reticulum and rumen are considered a single functional unit (the reticulo-rumen) with regards to myoelectrical and contractile activities. The specialized contractions of the reticulo-rumen provide constant mixing of partially digested material (cycle A), its flow into the omasum during eructation (cycle B), and regurgitation-rumination (cycle C). This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of electromyography (EMG) registered by a long-term telemetry method for assessment of the basic reticulo-rumen myoelectrical activity in sheep, to develop the effective recognition of the reticulo-rumen cycles at rest with no food stimulation, and to investigate the relationship between cycles A, B, and C in such basic conditions. The experiment was carried out on nine ewes. Myoelectric activity of the rumen, reticulum, and abomasum was recorded by the combination of three silver bipolar electrodes and a 3-channel transmitter implant. The myoelectrical activity registered successfully in the reticulum and rumen was determined as three characteristic patterns of cycles A, B, and C. The percentage of each type of cycle changed at different intervals from equally cycles A (43-50%) and B (50-56%), occurring when cycle C was not observed to the domination of cycle C (57-73%) with a decrease of cycles A (6-14%) and B (20-28%). The long-term EMG telemetry registration is feasible in the assessment of the reticulo-rumen myoelectrical activity in sheep.

Keywords: electromyography; ewes; reticulum; rumen; rumination cycle.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The representative images of the EMG signal recording in the reticulo−rumen, representing cycle A. Myoelectrical activity of the rumen (A); myoelectrical activity of the reticulum (B). NeuroScore analysis software, 1-min timeline.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The representative images of the EMG signal recording in the reticulo-rumen, representing cycle B. Myoelectrical activity of the rumen (A); myoelectrical activity of the reticulum (B). NeuroScore analysis software, 1-min timeline.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The representative images of the EMG signal recording in the reticulo-rumen, representing cycle C. Selected Myoelectrical activity of the rumen (A); myoelectrical activity of the reticulum (B). NeuroScore analysis software, 1 min timeline.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The number of the reticulo-rumen cycles in sheep in the consecutive intervals, including a contribution of cycles A, B, and C.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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