Incidental histological changes in the canine central nervous system

The canine central nervous system pathology includes a series of histopathological changes, which are often underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed due to insufficient research in this field. The aim of the present paper is to emphasize the main cerebral changes identified incidentally in the canine species, involving 38 dogs from the Department of Pathological Anatomy (FVM Cluj-Napoca), diagnosed with various pathologies that did not develop nervous symptoms. Gross and histological exams of the encephalus from all dogs were carried out. The main important incidental findings of canine nervous system were represented by lipofuscinosis (68,4%), cerebral congestion and edema (47,3%) hemosiderosis (28,9%), neuromelanosis (21%), neuronal necrosis associated with satellitosis and neuronophagia (13,1%), vascular mineralization and diffuse meningeal fibrosis (13,1%). Perivascular cuffing and gliosis (13,1%), corpora amilacea bodies (5,2%), spheroid bodies (5,2%), have also been identified with a lower incidence. There have also been single-case findings during this study, represented by Alzheimer type II astrocytes, a psammomatous-type meningioma and parasitic Neospora spp. cysts. Thus, the results obtained and presented in this paper contribute to the enhancement of knowledge regarding the main lesions of the central nervous system in dogs, most of which were, at times, asymptomatic

Presence and significance of Helicobacter spp. in the gastric mucosa of Portuguese dogs

Background: Non-Helicobacter pylori Helicobacters (NHPH) are also able to cause disease in humans. Dogs are a natural reservoir for many of these species. Close and intense human contact with animals has been identified as a risk factor and therefore, an important zoonotic significance has been attributed to NHPH. Methods: To determine the prevalence of Helicobacter species and the gastric histopathological changes associated, gastric mucosa samples of 69 dogs were evaluated. Results: Only one dog presented a normal histopathological mucosa with absence of spiral-shaped organisms. A normal gastric mucosa and the presence of spiral-shaped bacteria was observed in two dogs. All remaining animals presented histopathological changes representative of gastritis. Helicobacter species were detected in 60 dogs (87.0%) by at least one detection method. Histological, histochemical and immunohistochemical evaluations revealed that Helicobacter spp. were present in 45 (65.2%), 52 (75.4%) and 57 (82.6%) dogs, respectively. Spiral-shaped bacteria were detected by qPCR analysis in 33 (47.8%) dogs. H. heilmannii-like organisms were identified in 22 animals (66.7%) and predominantly in the antral gastric region. H. salomonis was the second most prevalent species (51.5%) although it was mainly found in association with other Helicobacter spp. and in the body gastric region. H. bizzozeronii and H. felis were less frequently detected. Conclusions: It was concluded that, despite the high incidence and worldwide distribution of gastric NHPH in dogs, the presence of specific Helicobacter species may vary between geographic regions. NHPH infections were significantly accompanied by mild to moderate intraepithelial lymphocyte infiltration and mild to moderate gastric epithelial injury, but a clear relationship between gastritis and Helicobacter infection could not be established