Equine motor neuron disease; a preliminary report.
Cornell Vet
; 80(4): 357-79, 1990 Oct.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-2209016
ABSTRACT
A spontaneous motor neuron disease or neuronopathy was identified in 10 horses from the northeastern United States. Signs of generalized weakness, muscle fasciculations, muscle atrophy and weight loss progressed over 1 to several months in young and old horses of various breeds. Pathologic studies revealed that degeneration and loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain stem resulted in axonal degeneration in the ventral roots and peripheral and cranial nerves and denervation atrophy of skeletal muscle. Many spinal neurons were swollen, chromatolytic and contained neurofilamentous accumulations. Other cell bodies were shrunken and undergoing neuronophagia and some were lost and replaced by glia. This fatal equine motor neuron disease has not been reported previously and its cause has not been determined. The progressive weakness and wasting and the neuronal degenerative changes in these horses were similar to those described in people with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Horse Diseases
/
Motor Neurons
/
Neuromuscular Diseases
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Cornell Vet
Year:
1990
Document type:
Article