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Title: VACUOLAR NEURONAL DEGENERATION IN YOUNG ROTTWEILER DOGS.

Author
item MEIER, WILLIAM - COLL.VET.MED.,URBANA, IL.
item FRENCH, RICHARD - COLL.VET.MED.,URBANA, IL.
item HIGGINS, ROBERT - UNIV.OF CA., DAVIS, CA.
item Miller, Janice
item RACE, RICK - ROCKY MT.LAB.,HAMILTON,MT
item WOLLENBERG, GORDON - COLL.VET.MED.,URBANA, IL.
item YAGGY, A - UNIV.BERN,BERN, SWITZ.
item ZACHARY, JAMES - COLL.VET.MED.,URBANA, IL.

Submitted to: American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/12/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The recent epidemic of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the United Kingdom and the potential association between BSE and a new form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans has spurred interest in scrapie-like diseases of other species. Here we report a disease of the nervous system in young Rottweiler dogs which has many histopathological features that are similar to scrapie. Six dogs varying from 3.5 to 8 months of age (3 from Illinois, 2 litter mates from California, and 1 from Switzerland) presented with progressive hind limb weakness, tetraparesis, ataxia, and variable degrees of proprioceptive deficits. In all cases the clinical signs appeared progressive from birth. At necropsy, gross lesions were not detected in any of the animals. In all dogs, the primary histologic lesion was within the central nervous system, and consisted of wide spread intracytoplasmic neuronal vacuolization. The vacuolization predominated in thalamic, midbrain and brain stem nuclei. Neurons throughout the cerebellum and medulla oblongata were severely affected. Ultrastructurally, the neuronal vacuoles were predominantly membrane bound and appeared to arise from the rough endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi. Lectin staining of brain and spinal cord for carbohydrate moieties was inconclusive. Prion protein was not detected by immunohistochemistry or Western blot analysis. Although the etiology of this disease has not been determined, this entity is different from other neurological diseases reported in the Rottweiler breed.