Morfologia e biometria do ligamento apical do pênis de touros da raça Girolando

The aim of this study was to describe the morphology and biometry of the apical ligament of the penis of Girolando bulls. For this purpose, it was dissected 32 penis of Girolando bulls obtained from slaughterhouses and kept frozen until their dissection. The animals were 36 to 48 month old and weighted between 480 and 540kg. The origin of the apical ligament occurred at 15.1±2.9cm distally to the caudal loop of the sigmoid flexure and its insertion occurred at 1.4±0.7cm proximally to the neck of the glans. The length of the apical ligament was 19.9±2.6cm. The width was 1.9±0.6mm at its origin, 2.2±0.8mm at its insertion and 35.2±10mm at the insertion of the internal lamina of prepuce. The average thickness along its extension varied from 0.7 to 1.0mm. On the free portion of the penis the apical ligament involved predominantly the dorsum and the left side of the penis, and its attachment to the tunica albuginea varied along its extension. The apical ligament is firmly attached to the tunica albuginea on its origin, insertion and on the left side of the penis, but dorsally and on the right side of the penis this union is made only through loose connective tissue. Significant linear relation was observed between length and circumference of the penis with length of the apical ligament, but the relation between these penis parameters and the width of the apical ligament was low.