Summary. Under the influence of several pregnancy-associated hormones, the maternal uterine architecture undergoes rapid growth and substantial remodeling early in gestation. These changes are necessary preparations to accommodate and support rapid conceptus development and growth in the later two-thirds of pregnancy. The implications of these uterine structural remodeling and their regulatory role in conceptus nutrition, implantation and placentation in ruminant animals are the subjects of this discussion.


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(*) Dr. Udensi M. Igwebuike is a Veterinary Doctor and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Veterinary Anatomy, University of Nigeria Nsukka. He teaches Veterinary Anatomy and Embryology to undergraduate students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and serves as a Consultant Veterinarian at the University of Nigeria Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Dr. Igwebuike is currently a PhD student in Veterinary Anatomy. His research interest is in the area of Reproductive Biology, especially, the structural characteristics of the synepitheliochorial placenta of ruminant species. He has authored a number of scientific articles that are published in national and international peer-review journals. In the year 2002, he was appointed a Junior Associate of the ICTP, and this is his third visit to the centre.