What is your diagnosis? Peritoneal fluid from an Arabian horse after colic surgery

A 16-year-old castrated male Arabian horse was presented to the Purdue University Veterinary Teaching Hospital with a 4-hour history of colic. Initial examinations provided strong evidence for small intestinal obstruction. Abdominal surgery revealed a strangulating lipoma, and 25 feet of small intestine were resected. Postoperatively, the horse developed obstructive ileus due to adhesion formation, which required a second laparotomy. During and after surgery, the abdomen was lavaged with sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). One week after the second surgery, evaluation of peritoneal fluid revealed an inflammatory exudate, with many macrophages containing amorphous to granular, pink to magenta phagocytosed material. Extracellular aggregates of the material were also observed. The material was consistent with CMC. To our knowledge, this report is the first to demonstrate the phagocytosis of CMC by peritoneal fluid macrophages.     

E-cadherin expression in canine cutaneous histiocytomas

Canine cutaneous histiocytoma is a common skin tumour of Langerhans cell origin. Langerhans cells are members of the dendritic cell family of antigen-presenting cells and are located in the epidermis. They are unique among the dendritic cell lineage in that they express high levels of the adhesion molecule E-cadherin. The expression of E-cadherin by the neoplastic Langerhans cells in 37 dogs with cutaneous histiocytoma was studied by flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. In all the cases, these cells expressed E-cadherin, whereas the infiltrating lymphocytes did not.     

Cytomorphologic differentiation of benign and malignant mammary tumors in fine needle aspirate specimens from irradiated female Sprague-Dawley rats.

BACKGROUND: Fine needle aspiration (FNA) offers a rapid and minimally invasive means to distinguish malignant from benign neoplasms. However, few studies have been published regarding the cytopathology of mammary tumors in rats despite widespread use of the rat model for breast cancer formation and inhibition. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of FNA cytology and to develop distinguishing cytologic criteria for the diagnosis of radiation-induced benign and malignant mammary tumors in rats. METHODS: In a study of radiation-induced mammary carcinogenesis, 100 Sprague-Dawley rats with cutaneous masses were randomly chosen for FNA. The aspirates were smeared, fixed, and stained with a modified Papanicolaou procedure for diagnostic evaluation. Cytologic and histologic diagnoses (benign vs malignant) were compared, and diagnostic accuracy was calculated using the histologic diagnosis as the criterion standard. FNA smears were scored semiquantitatively on a scale of 1-4 for cellularity, atypia, nuclear size, chromatin pattern, nuclear membrane thickness, nucleoli, and mitoses. The background was evaluated for necrosis, hemorrhage, inflammation, and mucosecretory material. Cytomorphologic features were compared statistically between benign and malignant tumors, based on the histologic diagnosis. RESULTS: The sensitivity of FNA was 92.3% and specificity was 89.4% for the detection of malignancy. However, 14% of specimens, all fibroadenomas by histology, had insufficient cells for cytologic evaluation, for an overall accuracy rate of 78.0%. Malignant tumors had significantly higher scores for all cytomorphologic features, and were significantly more likely to contain cell clusters and necrotic debris. CONCLUSIONS: FNA is an accurate method for differentiating benign and malignant rat mammary tumors.     

Genetic (co)variances and breeding value estimation of Gompertz growth curve parameters in Finnish Yorkshire boars, gilts and barrows.

This paper's objectives were to estimate the genetic (co)variance components of the Gompertz growth curve parameters and to evaluate the relationship of estimated breeding values (EBV) based on average daily gain (ADG) and Gompertz growth curves. Finnish Yorkshire central test station performance data was obtained from the Faba Breeding (Vantaa, Finland). The final data set included 121,488 weight records from 10,111 pigs. Heritability estimates for the Gompertz growth parameters mature weight (alpha), logarithm of mature weight to birth weight ratio (beta) and maturation rate (kappa) were 0.44, 0.55 and 0.31, respectively. Genotypic and phenotypic correlations between the growth curve parameters were high and mainly negative. The only positive relationship was found between alpha and beta. Pearson and Spearman rank correlation coefficients between EBV for ADG and daily gain calculated from Gompertz growth curves were 0.79. The Spearman rank correlation between the sire EBV for ADG and Gompertz growth curve parameter-based ADG for all sires with at least 15 progeny was 0.86. Growth curves differ significantly between individuals and this information could be utilized for selection purposes when improving growth rate in pigs.     

Evaluation of five clinical chemistry analyzers for use in health assessment in sea turtles

OBJECTIVE: To compare blood biochemical values obtained from a handheld analyzer, 2 tabletop analyzers, and 2 diagnostic laboratories by use of replicate samples of sea turtle blood. DESIGN: Validation study. ANIMALS: 22 captive juvenile sea turtles. PROCEDURES: Sea turtles (18 loggerhead turtles [Caretta caretta], 3 green turtles [Chelonia mydas], and 1 Kemp's ridley turtle [Lepidochelys kempii]) were manually restrained, and a single blood sample was obtained from each turtle and divided for analysis by use of the 5 analyzers. Hematocrit and concentrations or activities of aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, glucose, total protein, albumin, BUN, uric acid, P, Ca, K, Na, Cl, lactate dehydrogenase, and alkaline phosphatase were determined. Median values for each analyte were compared among the analyzers. RESULTS: Significant differences were found among the analyzers for most values; however, data obtained from the 2 diagnostic laboratories were similar for all analytes. The magnitude of difference between the diagnostic laboratories and in-house units was > or = 10% for 10 of the 15 analytes. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Variance in the results could be attributed in part to differences in analyzer methodology. It is important to identify the specific methodology used when reporting and interpreting biochemical data. Depending on the variable and specific case, this magnitude of difference could conceivably influence patient management.     

Laboratory findings, histopathology, and immunophenotype of lymphoma in domestic ferrets

Lymphoma is a common tumor in ferrets, but anatomic distribution, histomorphology, immunophenotype, laboratory abnormalities, and response to chemotherapy are incompletely defined. In this study, lymphoma was diagnosed by histopathology of tumor tissue in 29 ferrets ranging in age from 0.8 to 8.5 years, including 12 males and 17 females. Tumors involved the viscera of the abdominal cavity (n = 11), thoracic cavity (n = 1), or abdominal and thoracic cavities (n = 7); the skin (n = 2); or the viscera of both body cavities plus other sites (n = 8). Microscopically, all tumors had diffuse architecture. Assessment by histomorphology and immunophenotype classified tumors as peripheral T-cell lymphoma (n = 17), anaplastic large T-cell lymphoma (n = 5), anaplastic large B-cell lymphoma (n = 4), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (n = 1), and Hodgkin-like lymphoma (n = 2). Cytologic evaluation of tumor tissue was diagnostic in 11 of 13 cases. Twenty-two of 27 ferrets had anemia, 2 had leukemia, and 5 were neutropenic. Common comorbid disorders were adrenal disease (n = 27) and insulinoma (n = 6). Tumors most frequently involved mesenteric lymph nodes, while enlargement of peripheral lymph nodes was uncommon (n = 3). Ferrets with Hodgkin-like lymphoma had massive enlargement of single lymph nodes. Mean survival of ferrets not immediately euthanized was 5.0 months (T-cell lymphoma) and 8.4 months (B-cell lymphoma). Ferrets treated with chemotherapy survived an average of 4.3 months (T-cell lymphoma, n = 9) or 8.8 months (B-cell lymphoma, n = 4). Results indicate that lymphomas in ferrets most commonly affect abdominal viscera, may be amenable to cytologic diagnosis, are frequently associated with anemia and, in some cases, may be chemosensitive, resulting in relatively long survival times.     

Pharmacokinetics of an injectable long‐acting parenteral formulation of doxycycline hyclate in pigs

Based on its ideal PK/PD ratios, doxycycline hyclate (DOX‐h), a time‐dependant antibacterial, is ideally expected to achieve sustained plasma drug concentrations at or slightly above the MIC level for as long as possible between dosing intervals. Pursuing this end, a poloxamer‐based matrix was used to produce a 10% long‐acting injectable preparation (DOX‐h‐LA) and its serum concentrations vs. time profile investigated after its injection to pigs in the pericaudal s.c. by parallel design. Results were compared with the forced oral bolus dose and i.v. pharmacokinetics of DOX‐h. For this study, 12 recently weaned pigs per group were included in this trial, and a dose of 20 mg/kg was injected in all cases. DOX‐h‐LA showed the greatest values for bioavailability (115.38%); maximum serum concentration (Cmax) value was 1.5 ± 0.2 with a time to reach Cmax of 3.41 ± 0.04 h and an elimination rate constant of 70.93 ± 0.87 h. Considering minimum effective serum concentration of 0.5 μg/mL, a dose interval of at least 5 days can be achieved for DOX‐h‐LA, whereas p.o. and i.v. dosing of DOX‐h may only last 11 and 15 h, respectively. Pigs were slaughtered on day 30 after this trial, and no visible remnants of the preparation were detected neither fibrosis was observed after a thorough macroscopic and histopathological analysis.