Monique Togni

Polioencefalomalacia em ruminantes

Polioencephalomalacia (PEM) of ruminants is a complex disease. The term indicates a morphological diagnosis where severe neuronal necrosis results in softening of cerebral grey matter. Initially though as a single disease caused by thiamine deficiency, PEM is currently believe to have several causes and different pathogenic mechanisms or a single pathogenic organism triggered by different agents are responsible for the disease. In this paper the possible causes and pathogenesis of PEM in ruminants are critically reviewed and discussed. Also are reviewed the epidemiology, clinical signs, gross and histological findings, methods of diagnosis, treatment and control.

Surto de aflatoxicose em bezerros no Rio Grande do Sul

An outbreak of chronic aflatoxicosis is reported in dairy calves. Forty 4-month-old male Holstein calves of approximately 100kg were kept in individual cages of 1.5 x 1.5m and were fed a ration constituted by alfalfa hay, broken corn and milk substitute. Six calves (15%) died after presenting a disease characterized by general unthriftiness, diarrhea, rough hair coats, abdominal pain, prolapsed rectum, grinding of teeth, and lying down and rolling. The clinical course, as observed by the owners, was 2-3 days; however many calves in this lot that did not die, remained underdeveloped. Three calves were necropsied. Necropsy findings included firm, light tan livers and marked hydrothorax, ascites and edema of the mesentery, mesocolon and of the mucosal folds of the abomasum. Main histopathological changes were restricted to the liver and consisted of fibrosis, moderate megalocytosis, biliary duct hyperplasia and veno-occlusive disease. The search for Senecio spp. contamination in the alfalfa hay resulted negative. The analysis by thin layer chromatography of the corn fed to calves revealed 5,136 ppb of aflatoxin B1. A diagnosis of aflatoxicosis was made based on the characteristic clinical signs and pathology, on the absence of Senecio spp. in the food and on the presence of high levels of aflatoxin in the corn fed to the calves.

Aspectos epidemiológicos, clínicos e anatomopatológicos da infecção por Gurltia paralysans em gatos

In the last 20 years, an unknown neurological disease affected cat populations in the Western Border Region of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The onset of the disease was characterized by tail paralysis, followed by progressive paraparesis in the pelvic limbs, difficulty in ambulation and proprioceptive ataxia. After long prolonged clinical courses (12-24 months), when then affected cats became severely paraparetic and start to develop pressure sores do to decubitus, they were destroyed by the owners. At necropsy there were variable degrees of skeletal muscle atrophy of the pelvic muscles and some degree of reddening of the meninges at the level of T10-L7, due to the presence of a myriad of small blood vessels, as a typical varicose lesion that resembled a vascular hamartoma. Histologically, such lesions consisted of distension of the subarachnoid space due to a collection of dilated, blood-filled, tortuous blood vessels the lumina of which were occasionally partially or completely occluded by thrombi. Those varices were randomly surrounded by a lymphocytic or granulomatous inflammatory infiltrate with small foci of mature eosinophils. In the lumina of these varicose venules cross and longitudinal sections of nematode parasites could be observed. Based on the morphology of these parasites, in their anatomical localization (meningeal blood vessels) and in the species (cat) affected the nematode was identified as Gurltia paralysans. This paper describes detailed aspects of the epidemiology, clinical disease and pathology of this intriguing feline myelopathy and the definitive diagnosis of the condition: Feline crural parasitic paraplegia, a disease first described in Chile in the 1930s and now, for the first time, in Brazil.

Estudo retrospectivo de 207 casos de tumores mamários em gatas

This study aimed to determine the most prevalent mammary tumors in cats and associate them to some prognostic factors. The files from the Laboratorio de Patologia Veterinaria (LPV) of the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM) were reviewed, and 1.427 feline biopsies and autopsy protocols between the years 2000 and 2011 were found. Based on the information retrieved from the files, a relationship was established among the tumors and some prognostic factors such as sex, age, breed, reproductive status, use of contraceptives, number and location of affected glands, ulcers, size of the neoplasm, distant metastases, and affected lymph nodes. Thus, it was observed that mammary cancer is the second most prevalent diagnosis, following skin tumors. All cats with mammary tumors were female, being the elderly and mixed breed the most affected. Malignant neoplasms were the most frequently diagnosed, followed by non-neoplastic tumors, and benign neoplasms. Smaller tumors were mostly carcinomas. Ulcerations were present not only in malignant neoplasms but also in non-neoplastic changes. Distant metastases were found mainly to the lungs and skin.

Overlapping of mononuclear cells derived from bone marrow in rats' intervertebral discs: an in vitro study

Neste trabalho, foram utilizadas celulas mononucleares provenientes da medula ossea (MO) de ratos para implantacao em discos intervertebrais, a fim de estudar a sua participacao em possivel regeneracao tecidual. Essas celulas foram obtidas por centrifugacao, em gradiente de Ficoll-Paque™ PLUS, e cultivadas em frascos apropriados, por um periodo de 14 dias. Em etapa posterior, foram submetidas a marcacao celular, em que foi utilizado o marcador citoplasmatico CM-Dil, seguida de implantacao em discos intervertebrais de ratos, em um sistema de cultivo in vitro. Foram feitas avaliacoes diarias dos discos com utilizacao de um microscopio de fluorescencia, sendo constatadas alteracoes morfologicas com um formato alongado semelhante a celulas que originalmente compoem o anel fibroso. O exame histopatologico revelou a presenca de celulas mononucleares entremeadas em fibras de colageno. As alteracoes morfologicas das celulas e a presenca de celulas viaveis sao indicios de que essas celulas se integraram e proliferaram no disco intervertebral, interagindo com o microambiente deste, assumindo inclusive caracteristicas semelhantes as apresentadas por celulas-tronco mesenquimais.