Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
The first case of equine motor neuron disease in Japan.
- Journal:
- The Journal of veterinary medical science
- Year:
- 1994
- Authors:
- Kuwamura, M et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Veterinary Pathology · Japan
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
A 9-year-old male horse was very thin, weak, and trembling, and unfortunately, he had to be put to sleep. Tests on his spinal cord showed that many of the nerve cells responsible for movement were damaged and swollen. There were also unusual structures found in these damaged nerve cells that reacted to a specific antibody, indicating a problem with the way the cells were functioning. This case was identified as equine motor neuron disease, a condition that has been seen in horses in North America and the UK.
Abstract
A 9-year-old male horse showed emaciation, weakness and trembling and was euthanatized. Histopathological examinations revealed loss, swelling and chromatolysis of motor neurons throughout the spinal ventral horns, axonal degeneration of the ventral spinal roots. Eosinophilic cytoplasmic inclusions were distributed in degenerated spinal ventral neurons. Ultrastructurally, the inclusions consisted of aggregations of granular dense material and a few vesicles. They reacted positively with polyclonal antibody against ubiquitin. The present case was diagnosed as equine motor neuron disease, which has recently been reported in North America and the United Kingdom.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8204755/