Intracranial germ cell tumours in two dogs

Intracranial germ cell tumours were identified in two middle-aged, male dogs. The predominant clinical signs were progressive visual and pupillary abnormalities; one dog was blind. At post mortem examination a discrete extramedullary tumour was found at the base of the brain in each dog. Expansion of the mass had produced severe destruction of the diencephalon and brain stem. Histopathological examination revealed a mixed cellular pattern, consistent with a neoplasm derived from germ cells.     

Certain cytologic features of the porcine adrenal medulla

Adrenal glands were collected from pigs of various ages under general anesthesia. Glutaraldehyde-fixed medullary tissue was postfixed with OsO4 for electron microscopy and with potassium dichromate or potassium iodate for light microscopy. Columnar epinephrine (E) cells formed cords between wide sinusoidal capillaries at the corticomedullary junction and were arranged in palisade fashion along the central vein and its major tributaries. The E cells usually were polarized, with the nuclei located away from the sinusoidal capillaries. Clusters of polygonal norepinephrine (NE) cells formed large central aggregates surrounded by E cells. Granulated vesicles were the predominant cytoplasmic feature of both E and NE cells. Round or oval E granules were bounded by a crenated membrane separated from the granule by a clear halo. The more electron-dense, elongate NE granules were bounded by a closely apposed, smooth membrane. The average longest granule axis was 270 nm for E granules and 305 nm for NE granules. Many cytoplasmic organelles were congregated in a granule-free paranuclear zone, which contained a prominent Golgi complex. Thin nonmyelinated nerve fibers (singly or in small groups) were interposed between the E and NE cells. Nerve fibers often were located close to the nucleus in a depression of the cell surface and often were wrapped by thin E or NE cell processes. The medulla of newborn pigs was composed predominantly or exclusively of NE cells. In both adults and pigs, E or NE cell cords radiated through the cortex toward the capsule, and isolated clusters of E or NE cells frequently were found in the capsule or zona glomerulosa.     

Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis in Merino sheep

OBJECTIVE: To characterise neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL) in Merino sheep. DESIGN: A prospective clinical, pathological, biochemical and genetic study. PROCEDURE: NCL cases were studied from a medium-wool Merino flock, the stud of origin of its replacement rams, and an experimental flock established at the University of Sydney. RESULTS: Behavioural changes and visual impairment were first detected at 7 to 12 months of age and progressed, with associated motor disturbances and at later stages seizures, to premature death by 27 months of age. At necropsy there was severe cerebrocortical atrophy associated with neuronal loss, astrocytosis and the presence in neurons of eosinophilic intracytoplasmic storage bodies with the characteristics of a lipopigment. In the retina there was progressive loss of photoreceptor cells. Storage bodies isolated from fresh brain, liver and pancreas formed electron-dense aggregates and coarse multilamellar and fine fingerprint profiles ultrastructurally, and consisted mainly of the hydrophobic protein, subunit c of mitochondrial ATP synthase. A homozygosity mapping approach localised the gene causing the disease in Merino sheep to the chromosomal region (OAR7q13-15) associated with NCL in South Hampshire sheep. CONCLUSION: NCL in Merino sheep is a subunit c-storing disease, clinically and pathologically similar to NCL in South Hampshire sheep. We propose that the disease in both breeds represents mutation at the same gene locus in chromosomal region OAR7q13-15.     

Neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis in Borderdale sheep

AIM: To describe the gross and histological lesions of a neurological disease in Borderdale sheep characterised clinically by blindness and circling, as a basis to its classification. METHODS: Formalin-fixed tissues were processed into paraffin wax and epoxy resin for light and electron microscopy of variously stained sections. RESULTS: Lesions were those of a lysosomal storage disease with severe neurodegeneration of the cerebral cortex. The staining reactions, autofluorescence and ultrastructure of storage material allowed the diagnosis of neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis associated with the accumulation of subunit-c of mitochondrial ATP synthase. CONCLUSIONS: The severity of neurodegeneration and minor differences in the ultrastructure of storage material implied that this was a different disease from other forms of ovine ceroid-lipofuscinosis that accumulate subunit-c of mitochondrial ATP synthase. An autosomal recessive mode of inheritance is considered probable. Although of only minor economic importance, this disease may be important to research into the group of ceroid-lipofuscinoses as a whole.     

Clinical studies on daily low dose oxytocin in mares at term

The aim of this study was to test whether low dose oxytocin i.v. injection once a day to mares diagnosed as being ready for birth by mammary secretion calcium strip test measurements could be used as a reliable method to induce parturition and/or predict the mare would not foal during the following night if parturition did not occur within 2 h of treatment. Fifty-one near-term Haflinger mares were used and a single injection of 2.5 iu oxytocin was given between 1700 and 1900 h, including 10 mares used as controls which were administered a placebo. Administration of oxytocin resulted in the delivery of a normal foal within 120 min in 95% of mares. Twenty-four out of 38 (63%) treated animals foaled in response to the first oxytocin injection, 9 out of 38 (24%) in response to the second injection and 3 out of 38 (8%) in response to the third treatment. Two out of 38 (5%) treated mares foaled during the night irrespective of treatment whereas 7 out of 10 (70%) control mares foaled during the night. It was concluded that the major advantage of injecting a daily low dose of oxytocin appears to be that such a low dose induces delivery only in mares carrying a mature fetus and which are ready to foal.