Incidental histological changes in the canine central nervous system

Abstract

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.