Prevalence and pathological evaluation of hepatic fatty change in cattle slaughtered at Urmia abattoir, northwest Iran

Three hundred and sixteen bovine livers were inspected during slaughtering at Urmia Abattoir in May 2016. Eighty-nine inspected livers have various gross and microscopic lesions. 89 hepatic tissue samples were processed routinely and stained by Harris Hematoxylin and Eosin (H E), Periodic Acid- Schiff reagent (PAS) and Sudan IV for frozen sections. Hepatic lesions were observed in 89 samples (28.16%) of 316 liver samples. lesions in the inspected cattle were consisted 33/316 (10.44%) fatty change, 40/316 (12.65%) fascioliasis, 8/316 (2.53%) hydatid cyst, 6/316 (1.89%) focal coagulative necrosis and 2/316 (0.63%) hemorrhage. The results show that abundance of hepatic fatty change in male cattle is more than females. Indeed, abundance of mild type of hepatic fatty change 15/33 (45.45%) is more than moderate type 11/33 (33.33%) and severe type 7/33 (21.21%). According to presence of hepatic fatty change in most livers affected by fascioliasis, it seems fascioliasis may be a cause of hepatic fatty change in cattle slaughtered at Urmia Abattoir.