Platelet vacuoles in a dog with severe nonregenerative anemia: evidence of platelet autophagy.

A 13-year-old neutered male English Springer Spaniel was presented to The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center for evaluation of severe anemia. Upon blood smear review, approximately 50% of the platelets contained single to multiple variably sized clear vacuoles. Transmission electron microscopy of the platelets revealed hallmark features of autophagy, including membrane-lined vesicles and vacuoles containing membrane whorls and degrading organelles.

Osseous metaplasia within a canine insulinoma.

An 11-year-old male castrated mixed-breed dog was presented for exercise intolerance, tetraparesis, and persistent hypoglycemia. Abdominal ultrasound examination revealed 2 nodules within the right limb of the pancreas. Cytology from one nodule was consistent with a carcinoma of neuroendocrine origin, with a primary differential diagnosis of insulinoma.

Temporal expression and tissue distribution of interleukin-1β in two strains of guinea pigs with varying propensity for spontaneous knee osteoarthritis.

Objective: To provide a comprehensive immunohistochemical (IHC) map of the temporal expression and tissue distribution of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) through progression of osteoarthritis (OA) in two strains of guinea pigs with varying propensity for spontaneous knee joint disease.

Methods: OA-prone Hartley and OA-resistant Strain 13 guinea pigs were collected at 60, 120, 180, 240, 360, and 480 days of age (N=4 animals per strain per date). IHC was performed on whole joint preparations; the distribution of IL-1β expression on coronal sections was mapped, semi-quantitatively scored, and correlated to OA grade using Mankin criteria with guinea pig-specific modifications.

Asthma/allergic airways disease: does postnatal exposure to environmental toxicants promote airway pathobiology?

Unlabelled: The recent, dramatic increase in the incidence of childhood asthma suggests a role for environmental contaminants in the promotion of interactions between allergens and the respiratory system of young children. To establish whether exposure to an environmental stressor, ozone (O3), and an allergen, house dust mite (HDMA), during early childhood promotes remodeling of the epithelial-mesenchymal trophic unit (EMTU) of the tracheobronchial airway wall by altering postnatal development, infant rhesus monkeys were exposed to cyclic episodes of filtered air (FA), HDMA, O3, or HDMA plus O3. The following alterations in the EMTU were found after exposure to HDMA, O3, or HDMA plus O3: (1) reduced airway number; (2) hyperplasia of bronchial epithelium; (3) increased mucous cells; (4) shifts in distal airway smooth muscle bundle orientation and abundance to favor hyperreactivity; (5) interrupted postnatal basement membrane zone differentiation; (6) modified epithelial nerve fiber distribution; and (7) reorganization of the airway vascular and immune system.

Early postnatal exposure to allergen and ozone leads to hyperinnervation of the pulmonary epithelium.

Airway injury in infant monkeys exposed to ozone and/or house dust mite allergen (HDMA) is associated with a loss of epithelial innervation. In this study, we evaluated for persistence/recovery of the altered epithelial innervation. Thirty-day-old rhesus monkeys were exposed to repeated episodes of HDMA and/or ozone from 1 to 6 months of age and subsequently allowed to recover for 6 months in the absence of further ozone exposure and/or minimal HDMA challenge (sufficient to maintain allergen sensitization).