A slowly progressive retinopathy in the Shetland Sheepdog.

Objective: To describe a slowly progressive retinopathy (SPR) in Shetland Sheepdogs. Animals  Forty adult Shetlands Sheepdogs with ophthalmoscopic signs of SPR and six normal Shetland Sheepdogs were included in the study.

Procedure: Ophthalmic examination including slit-lamp biomicroscopy and ophthalmoscopy was performed in all dogs.

N-acetylhistidine, a novel osmolyte in the lens of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.).

Volume homeostasis is essential for the preservation of lens transparency and this is of particular significance to anadromous fish species where migration from freshwater to seawater presents severe osmotic challenges. In Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.), aqueous humor (AH) osmolality is greater in fish acclimated to seawater compared with young freshwater fish, and levels of lens N-acetylhistidine (NAH) are much higher in seawater fish.

A deletion in nephronophthisis 4 (NPHP4) is associated with recessive cone-rod dystrophy in standard wire-haired dachshund.

Cone-rod dystrophy is a retinal degenerative disorder occurring naturally in man and dog. Here we identify a novel gene for early-onset cone-rod dystrophy in the wire-haired dachshund. For the first time, we use genome-wide association-based Sibling Transmission Disequilibrium Test (sibTDT) analysis of only 13 discordant sib-pairs to identify a single significantly associated 6.

A study of candidate genes for day blindness in the standard wire haired dachshund.

Background: A genetic study was performed to identify candidate genes associated with day blindness in the standard wire haired dachshund. Based on a literature review of diseases in dogs and human with phenotypes similar to day blindness, ten genes were selected and evaluated as potential candidate genes associated with day blindness in the breed.

Results: Three of the genes, CNGB3, CNGA3 and GNAT2, involved in cone degeneration and seven genes and loci, ABCA4, RDH5, CORD8, CORD9, RPGRIP1, GUCY2D and CRX, reported to be involved in cone-rod dystrophies were studied.

Functional and structural changes in the retina of wire-haired dachshunds with early-onset cone-rod dystrophy.

Purpose: To describe and classify the morphologic changes in a naturally occurring dog model of early-onset cone-rod dystrophy (CRD) and to correlate these with earlier described clinical characteristics of the disease in dogs.

Methods: Purpose-bred Standard Wire-Haired Dachshunds (SWHDs) derived from a large pedigree of dogs with early-onset CRD were euthanatized at defined ages to characterize morphologic changes in the disease process. Specimens were examined by light microscopy, including morphometric studies, electron microscopy, and immunohistochemistry.