Familial stomatocytosis--hypertrophic gastritis (FSHG), a newly recognised disease in the dog (Drentse patrijshond)

A newly recognised disease, which we have given the provisional name of familial stomatocytosis-hypertrophic gastritis (FSHG), is described in two families of dogs of the Drentse partrijshond breed. The affected dogs consisted of 3 females and 5 males, 3 to 19 (mean 9.5) months of age at admission. The main clinical problems were diarrhoea, icterus, and ataxia and paresis of the pelvic limbs. Laboratory evaluation revealed abnormal red cell shape (stomatocytosis), increased osmotic fragility, haemolytic anaemia, and increased liver enzymes and serum bilirubin. Gastroscopic and histopathologic examination of the gastric mucosa revealed hypertrophic gastritis resembling Ménétrier's disease in man. Histologic findings in the liver were suggestive of progressive liver disease. Cysts were found in the kidneys of the five oldest patients. Electroneurography in 2 dogs revealed polyneuropathy. In the parents of 2 patients (sister and brother), there were no clinical or laboratory abnormalities. An autosomal recessive hereditary defect of lipid metabolism is suspected.     

Covalently protein-bound bilirubin conjugates in cholestatic disease of dogs

We investigated the occurrence of covalently protein-bound bilirubins in the plasma of dogs with hyperbilirubinemia attributable to hepatobiliary diseases or Coombs test-positive hemolysis. The bilirubins in plasma were measured with the conventional Van den Bergh reaction, by treatment with diazotized p-iodoaniline, and by high-performance liquid chromatography of bilirubin and its methylesters after alkaline methanolysis. All but one dog had covalently protein-bound bilirubin conjugates. The concentration and the fraction of total bilirubins varied in all diseases investigated, but they tended to be low in primary hemolysis. The "biliprotein" complex accounted for 2 to 94% of total plasma bilirubins. Because biliprotein usually is not cleared by the liver, but has a half-life comparable with that of albumin, it prevents the evaluation of the actual state of the underlying disease. Measurement of the total bilirubin concentration exclusively with the Van den Bergh reaction, therefore, is clinically useless. Other methods should be introduced for routine bilirubin assays, permitting the measurement of noncovalently bound pigment as a meaningful estimate of the course of the disease.     

Interactions between different media and follicle‐stimulating hormone supplementation on in vitro culture of preantral follicles enclosed in ovarian tissue derived from collared peccaries (Pecari tajacu Linneaus, 1758)

The aim was to verify the effect of follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH) supplementation to α‐MEM+ or TCM199+ media on the in vitro development of ovarian preantral follicles (PFs) derived from collared peccaries. Ovaries (n = 5 pairs) were collected and divided into fragments destined to control group (non‐cultured) or treatments that were cultured for 7 days. The PFs morphology, growth and activation were evaluated by classical histology. The immunohistochemistry markers Ag‐NOR and PCNA were used for nuclear proliferation analysis, and the picrosirius red labelling was used for ovarian extracellular matrix (ECM) evaluation. After 7‐day culture, only the TCM199+ treatment maintained the proportion of intact PFs similar to day 1 (63.2%), but no differences were found among treatments (p > .05). In addition, a significant increase in the growing follicles proportion was verified for all the treatments, indicating follicular activation (p > .05). By the Ag‐NOR analysis, only the TCM199+/FSH maintained the nuclear proliferation similar to the first day (p > .05). The picrosirius red staining revealed that the ECM remained intact in all the treatments (p > .05). We suggest the use of TCM199+ medium supplemented of FSH for the in vitro development of peccaries PFs under 7‐day culturing conditions.     

Symmetrical alopecia, scaling and hepatitis in a rabbit

A 5-year-old rabbit with inappetence, symmetrical alopecia and skin lesions was examined. No mites or Malassezia were found in skin scrapings and tape impressions and dermatophyte culture was negative. Trial therapy with ivermectin did not reduce skin lesion severity, and euthanasia was performed because of anorexia after 1 month. Histopathology of the skin showed hyperkeratosis, lymphocytic exocytosis, cell-poor interface dermatitis (lymphocytic infiltration and apoptotic cells in basal layer of epidermis), absence of sebaceous glands and lymphocytic mural folliculitis comparable to sebaceous adenitis and thymoma-associated exfoliative dermatitis previously described in rabbits. The liver exhibited an interface hepatitis, comparable to autoimmune hepatitis in man. The occurrence of morphological similarities to exfoliative dermatitis and sebaceous adenitis in rabbits, in association with an autoimmune hepatitis, has not been described before.     

Portal hypertension in a dog due to circumscribed fibrosis of the wall of the extrahepatic portal vein

A two-and-a-half-year-old German shepherd dog with ascites and a high concentration of blood ammonia was investigated. Sonographically, its liver was normal but the portal vein was dilated and the flow of blood within it was slow. A liver biopsy showed that the liver was normal, and did not reveal any possible cause of portal hypertension or ascites. Postmortem, the cranial part of the portal vein was dilated with a cross-striped internal surface, but the caudal part looked normal; there was a stenotic ring between the normal and dilated parts. Histology of the dilated segment revealed marked hypertrophy of both the internal circular and the external longitudinal smooth muscle layers. At the site of the stenosis, the longitudinal muscular layer was replaced by connective tissue. Circumscribed fibrosis in the wall of the portal vein was responsible for the stenosis and the subsequent prehepatic portal hypertension. The cross-striped pattern in the dilated part of the vein was the result of hypertrophy of the inner circular smooth muscle layer.     

Clinico-pathological aspects of canine cutaneous and mucocutaneous plasmacytomas

In this study the clinico-pathological aspects of cutaneous and mucocutaneous plasmacytomas were investigated in 63 dogs (one dog with two tumours). The tumours were most commonly observed in the skin of the trunk and legs. Yorkshire Terrier (n = 8) was the most commonly affected breed and males were affected more commonly than females (36 versus 23, respectively). Plasmacytomas were histologically classified into mature, hyaline, cleaved, asynchronous, monomorphous blastic and polymorphous blastic cell types. Monomorphous blastic cell type was the most frequent type (n = 21), followed by cleaved (n = 19) and asynchronous (n = 11) cell types. Secondary amyloid depositions were observed in eight cases. Immunohistochemical staining showed monoclonal lambda light chain positivity in all cases. In the immunohistochemical staining for cyclin D1, which is a prognostic marker in human plasma cell tumours, moderate numbers of positive tumour cells were observed in only one case of (muco)cutaneous plasmacytoma. All other cases were negative or contained few positive tumour cells. On the other hand, high numbers of tumorous plasma cells reacted positively with cyclin D1 in three out of six cases of canine multiple myelomas. Prognosis of the (muco)cutaneous plasmacytomas was good, except in one dog which developed a lymphoma afterwards. No significant correlations were observed between the cell type and the location of the tumour, presence of amyloid or prognosis.     

Extrahepatic biliary atresia in a border collie

Progressive lameness and leg pain were the predominant clinical signs in a 17-week-old male border collie presented for examination. On clinical investigation, extrahepatic cholestasis in association with rickets due to inadequate vitamin D resorption was diagnosed. The dog was treated parenterally with vitamin D and a cholecystoduodenostomy was performed. At 25 days postsurgery the lameness had resolved and bone structure was radiographically normal. However, at six weeks postsurgery, the dog's condition deteriorated rapidly and euthanasia was finally performed at eight weeks postsurgery. At postmortem examination, Toxocara canis nematodes were found to have invaded the biliary system via the anastomosis between the gallbladder and duodenum, causing biliary and hepatic toxocariasis. The cause of the primary extrahepatic cholestasis was atresia of the common bile duct at the hepatic end. The liver tissue showed microscopic lesions of chronic extrahepatic cholestasis as well as acute inflammation associated with the nematode invasion. There was no postmortem evidence of bone lesions. Extrahepatic biliary atresia is extremely rare in animals and has not been described before in dogs. In contrast, it represents the most common cause of congenital cholestasis in children, occurring in approximately one per 10,000 to 15,000 live births.     

Onion poisoning of young cattle

Eighty-five cattle (calves and yearlings) were allowed 1000 kg of onions (Allium cepa) a day. Signs of poisoning were observed after five days; 22 animals were affected, one fatally. New illnesses continued to occur for five days after the withdrawal of onions from the diet. Clinical signs included inappetance, tachycardia, staggering and collapse, with jaundiced conjunctivae and haemoglobinuria. Haemolytic anaemia with Heinz bodies in the red cells and leucocytosis were demonstrated.     

Aujeszky's disease in a horse

A horse with neurological signs and severe meningoencephalitis caused by Aujeszky's disease is described. The diagnosis was established by immunohistochemistry, DNA-in situ hybridization and serological tests. Aujeszky's disease virus antigen and Aujeszky's disease viral DNA were detected in neurons of the cerebrum. In the serum of the horse antibodies against Aujeszky's disease virus were detected in a virus neutralization test, in a blocking ELISA which specifically detects antibodies against the glycoprotein I (Ig) of the virus, in an indirect double sandwich ELISA and with colloidal gold immunoelectron microscopy which detects antibodies directed against the envelope and nucleocapsid of the virus. Intranasal infection of two points with a high dose of Aujeszky's disease virus caused very wild and transient signs. Although the experimental infection induced virus neutralizing antibodies, it failed to induce gI specific antibodies.     

Extrahepatic cholestasis in the dog and the differentiation of extrahepatic and intrahepatic cholestasis

The clinical and pathological features of extrahepatic cholestasis in 19 dogs are presented. The condition was most often caused by partial or complete occlusion of the choledochal duct due to neoplastic diseases (12 cases), inflammatory processes (3 cases), or eventration and incarceration of the liver (1 case). In only three cases was the condition due to intraluminal obstruction of the choledochal duct. The anamnestic, laboratory and pathological parameters of these 19 dogs were compared with the findings in 21 dogs with intrahepatic cholestasis. Statistical analysis of these parameters indicated that the presence of acholic faeces, the degree of icterus and the level of plasma gamma GT where the only parameters of value in the clinical differentiation of extrahepatic from intrahepatic cholestasis. Histological examination of liver biopsies is a simple aid to a confident in vivo diagnosis of extrahepatic cholestasis.