Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with progressive brain disease and abnormal mitochondria
By Brenner, O et al.·Published in Acta neuropathologica·1997·Department of Pathology, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: A canine encephalomyelopathy with morphological abnormalities in mitochondria.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 16-month-old dog was brought in because it was stumbling and having trouble with coordination, often bumping into things and showing some unusual behavior. The veterinarian found that the dog's brain had significant damage, particularly in areas responsible for movement and vision, along with abnormal changes in the mitochondria, which are the energy-producing parts of cells. Unfortunately, this condition is progressive and similar to certain mitochondrial diseases seen in humans, and there is no specific treatment mentioned that could reverse the damage.
People also search for: dog stumbling behavior · dog ataxia treatment · canine encephalomyelopathy symptoms
Abstract
A progressive encephalomyelopathy of insidious onset affecting a 16-month-old dog is described. Clinically, the dog was ataxic, stumbled into objects and showed mild behavioral abnormalities. Light microscopic findings included profound degeneration and astrogliosis of the optic pathways, loss of Purkinje neurons, focal bilateral and symmetrical brain stem spongiosis and diffuse neuroaxial astrogliosis with swollen and abnormally shaped nuclei. Ultrastructurally, there were giant and bizarre mitochondria within neuronal perikarya and axons as well as diffuse loosening of the cerebral and cerebellar neuropil. These neuropathological findings resemble the mitochondrial encephalomyopathies of man.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9341942/