RESUMO
Thirteen Sika deer (Cervus nippon Temminck) showing ataxia on a stock farm in the north eastern district of China were examined histopathologically. The principal pathological changes were spongy vacuolation and myelin deficiency in the white matter of the spinal cord and brain stem, fibrosis and rupture of the elastic lamina of the spinal arterioles, and mesothelial hyperplasia in the spinal arachnoid. Other findings included defective formation of the elastic laminae of the aorta, and the blood vessels in the kidney and lung, hemosiderosis in the spleen and liver, and lymphocyte depletion in the systemic lymph nodes. Copper concentrations were low in the serum and liver. In the white matter of the spinal cord and brain stem, demyelination appeared to coexist with dysmyelination and secondary myelin breakdown. It was inferred that decreased activity of copper containing enzyme induced various lesions. The possible role of copper deficiency in the pathogenesis of the ataxic conditions is discussed.
Assuntos
Tronco Encefálico/patologia , Cervos , Medula Espinal/patologia , Lordose Equina/patologia , Animais , Aorta/patologia , Arteríolas/patologia , Tronco Encefálico/ultraestrutura , China/epidemiologia , Cobre/análise , Cobre/sangue , Cobre/deficiência , Feminino , Rim/irrigação sanguínea , Fígado/química , Pulmão/irrigação sanguínea , Masculino , Proteínas da Mielina/análise , Proteínas da Mielina/metabolismo , Ovinos , Medula Espinal/ultraestrutura , Lordose Equina/epidemiologia , Lordose Equina/metabolismoRESUMO
Swayback disease (SD), a fatal neurological disorder affecting lambs and kids, is characterized by abnormal mitochondria and low cytochrome-c oxidase activity. The cytochrome-c oxidase content and activity and the protein composition of mitochondria isolated from the brains of SD lambs were investigated. Difference spectra analysis indicated that the cytochrome-c oxidase content of mitochondria from SD animals was lower than normal, and electrophoresis showed that when compared to mitochondria from normal animals, lipid-depleted mitochondria from SD lambs had a different protein composition, particularly, in the 40-55 kDa region. Polarographic studies, using cytochrome-c as substrate, confirmed low intrinsic activity of cytochrome-c oxidase within the mitochondria of SD lambs. These studies also showed that at low ionic strength, such mitochondria did not yield the expected characteristic biphasic Eadie-Hofstee plots.
