A 9-year old female cocker spaniel dog was presented with uveitis, blindness and neurological signs, with a history of mixed malignant mammary tumor that had been excised two months prior to presentation. Brain and ocular metastasis of mammary adenocarcinoma, with meningeal carcinomatosis (MC) were diagnosed by both cerebrosspinal fluid (CSF) and the aqueous humor (AH) cytology, which revealed numerous cells, with overall morphology compatible with epithelial secretory origin, demonstrating malignant characteristics. The morphologic diagnosis was a secretory cell carcinoma, most probably of mammary gland origin. The dog was euthanized at its owners' request. Gross pathology showed multiple nodular masses of variable diameter (3 to 20 mm) on examination of the right ventral thalamus, inguinal mammary lymph nodes and lungs. Microscopic examination revealed neoplastic epithelial cell infiltrating the leptomeninges, brain parenchyma, inguinal mammary lymph nodes, eyes and lungs. The neoplastic cells were cytokeratin-positive, vimentin-negative, supporting their epithelial origin. The definitive diagnosis was malignant mixed mammary tumor with distant metastases to various organs, and MC. In this case, both CSF and AH cytological analyses were useful for the ante-mortem diagnosis of mammary carcinoma, MC and ocular metastases. These finding along with brain computed tomography suggested brain metastases.

Providing a pre-operative prognosis for dogs presented with absent deep pain perception (DPP) is extremely challenging, as the overall recovery rates widely vary. This study assesses the possible correlation between the severity of spinal cord injury and CSF cytology in 31 paraplegic dogs presented with absent DPP due to acute thoracolumbar intervertebral disc herniation (TL-IVDH). All dogs underwent surgical decompression immediately following diagnosis. CSF TNCC, macrophage percentage and macrophage to monocyte (M Phi:M) ratio were significantly higher in dogs that failed to regain DPP within 10 days post-operatively and in dogs that failed to regain ambulation at the end of the study period (P <0.05). M Phi:M of 0.73 and higher corresponded to a sensitivity of 54% and specificity of 100% for prediction of a negative long-term outcome. CSF TNCC, macrophage percentage and M Phi:M ratio effectively predicted regaining DPP and the long-term outcome in dogs that lost DPP due to acute TL-IVDH. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Sciatic nerve injury may cause neurological deficits, particularly muscle weakness. Previous studies have shown that administration of neurotrophic factors (NTFs), naturally occurring proteins that support the development and survival of neurons, partially protected the damaged motor neuron in the injured sciatic nerve. In the current study, we have examined whether the administration of various combinations of transfected muscle progenitor cells (MPCs) populations, each expressing a single NTF (BDNF, GDNF, IGF-1 or VEGF) or conditioned media of such culture are capable of rescuing motor neurons in culture or in vivo. We have found that the mixture of conditioned media collected from cultured myogenic cells (MPCs- MIX(+)) alleviated the toxic effect of exposure of the motor neuron cell line NSC34 to hypoxic environment. Furthermore, NTFs secreting cells transplantation, protected motor neurons in a unilateral rat sciatic nerve injury model: One day after the crush, rats underwent transplantation at the lesion site with rat myogenic cells expressing one of the four NTFs; a mixture of cells expressing all four NTFs (MPCs- MIX(+)), MPCs-GFP or PBS. We found that in rats injected with MPCs- MIX(+) the motor function was markedly preserved, compared to groups injected with cells secreting a single NTF, GFP or PBS. Transplantation of the MPCs- MIX(+) significantly inhibited the degeneration of the neuromuscular junctions and enhanced the survival of the myelinated motor axons. The injection of MPCs- MIX(+) preserved the compound muscle action potential (CMAP) as was demonstrated by motor nerve conduction studies. Our findings suggest that MPCs induced to secrete several NTFs can synergistically alleviate symptoms of sciatic nerve injury and perhaps other motor neuron disorders..

BACKGROUND:Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis recently was associated with the severity of neurologic signs in dogs with intervertebral disc disease (IVDD).HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES:To look for an association among CSF cell counts, total protein concentration, and severity of neurologic signs at presentation with outcome in dogs with acute thoracolumbar IVDD. Our hypothesis was that CSF total nucleated cell count (TNCC) and percentage cell types would be associated with the severity of spinal cord damage and therefore with both the presenting clinical signs and the prognosis of affected dogs.ANIMALS:Fifty-four dogs with acute nonambulatory thoracolumbar IVDD were evaluated.METHODS:Retrospective study. Signalment, neurologic grade, CSF TNCC, protein concentration, red blood cells count and differential cell percentages, and short- and long-term outcomes were evaluated.RESULTS:CSF pleocytosis (>5 cells/μL) was present in 54% of dogs and was positively associated with neurologic grade at presentation and with postoperative time to regaining ambulation. Neutrophils were observed most frequently. The percentage of CSF macrophages and macrophage to monocyte ratio were higher (P = .001, for both) in dogs presented without deep pain sensation (DPS) that did not regain ambulation. Receiver operator characteristics curve analysis yielded a cut-off point of 13% macrophages with a sensitivity and specificity of 100 and 83%, respectively, for prediction of a negative outcome.CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE:CSF pleocytosis is positively associated with the severity of spinal cord damage in dogs with thoracolumbar IVDD. The percentage of CSF macrophages can be used as a prognostic indicator for regaining ambulation in dogs that have lost DPS.

Thoracolumbar disc herniation was diagnosed in a two-year-old ferret using a myelogram followed by a computed tomography scan. The ferret was paraplegic with no control over urination and defecation. Conservative treatment that included cage rest and passive range of motion exercises for three weeks followed by extensive physiotherapy and hydrotherapy resulted in full recovery two months after the onset of treatment. Although intervertebral disc disease has been reported previously in four ferrets, this is the first report in which a postmyelogram computed tomography was used to demonstrate the herniated disc, and physiotherapy was used as principal treatment modality.

Chaetopelma aegyptiaca is the largest spider native to Israel. Although it belongs to a highly poisonous spider family, the Israeli subspecies is not venomous but its bite has been reported as extremely painful by people. Its toxicity to dogs is unknown; however several fatal canine cases were reported in association with spider bites of the same family. A one-year-old, intact, male toy-terrier presented with chief complaints of excitement, vomiting, tremor, diarrhea and hypersalivation that appeared shortly and acutely after it had been bitten by Chaetopelma aegyptiaca. Anaphylactic shock was tentatively diagnosed based on the history and clinical signs. The dog was immediately treated with oxygen, intravenous crystalloids, diphenhydramine and ampicillin. Initial improvement was observed within one hour. The present favorable response to therapy suggests that anaphylactic shock due to C. aegyptiaca bite can be treated successfully without using epinephrine.