German Shepherd dog with progressive leg weakness from nerve tumor

Abstract

A 6-year-old castrated German Shepherd Dog was presented with a 6-month history of progressive, nonpainful, left pelvic limb paresis. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed atrophy of left-sided epaxial and hypaxial muscles from L5-L7 and an enlarged L5 spinal nerve. Exploratory hemi-laminectomy revealed focally and cylindrically thickened L5 and L6 nerve roots. Histologic evaluation of a surgical biopsy specimen from the L6 dorsal nerve root, and the L5 nerve roots after later amputation revealed distended hypercellular fascicles. This distension was due to widely separated axons surrounded by concentric lamellations formed by neoplastic perineurial cells and their processes. These pseudo-onion bulbs were separated from each other by a basophilic myxoid stroma. The perineurioma cell processes were immunonegative for S-100 (alpha and beta chains) and collagen IV, but were immunoreactive for laminin. The central axons were also immunoreactive for NF-200 and S-100. The proliferative index of the perineurioma cells, as determined by MIB-1 immunoreactivity, was about 3%. Ultrastructurally, the widely separated, interdigitating perineurioma cell processes were connected by desmosomal-like junctional complexes to form continuous circles. Their processes were covered by a discontinuous basal lamina. Each centrally placed axon was normally, thinly, or completely unmyelinated and was surrounded by a normal Schwann cell. These morphologic and immunologic features distinguish this lesion from hypertrophic neuropathy and were consistent with intraneural perineurioma.