Computed tomographic findings in 25 cats with ear canal neoplasia.

Computed tomography is commonly used to evaluate feline otic disease; however, published studies characterizing the CT appearance of ear canal neoplasia are limited. The purpose of this multicenter, retrospective, secondary analysis, cross-sectional study was to describe the CT features of histopathologically confirmed feline ear canal neoplasia. The CT studies of 25 cats with ear canal neoplasia were prospectively scored by consensus of two veterinary radiologists.

Screening for Viral Nucleic Acids in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Dogs With Central Nervous System Inflammation.

Central nervous system (CNS) inflammation is a common cause of neurological dysfunction in dogs. Most dogs with CNS inflammation are diagnosed with presumptive autoimmune disease. A smaller number are diagnosed with an infectious etiology.

Circulating neutrophil activation in dogs with naturally occurring spinal cord injury secondary to intervertebral disk herniation.

Objective: To investigate the time course of circulating neutrophil priming and activity in dogs with spinal cord injury secondary to intervertebral disk herniation that undergo decompressive surgery.

Animals: 9 dogs with spinal cord injury and 9 healthy dogs (controls).

Procedures: For dogs with spinal cord injury, blood samples were collected on the day of hospital admission and 3, 7, 30, and 90 days after injury and decompressive surgery.

Abdominal ultrasound and clinicopathologic findings in 22 cats with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency.

Background: Awareness of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI) in cats has increased since the development of an assay for feline trypsin-like immunoreactivity (fTLI). Ultrasound findings in cats with EPI have only been reported rarely and described as nonspecific.

Hypothesis/objectives: To describe the ultrasonographic findings, clinical signs, and concurrent diseases in cats with EPI.

Preparation Technique Affects Recipient Immune Targeting of Autologous Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is used for MSC preparation in pre-clinical animal models and veterinary applications, recently in US clinical trials, and for MSC products with current foreign market authorizations. The effect of anti-bovine titers, which are common in animals and humans, has not been investigated. In the equine model, where anti-bovine titers are universally high due to routine vaccination, we evaluated the recipient immune response to autologous MSCs prepared with and without FBS.

Cross-matching of allogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells eliminates recipient immune targeting.

Allogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been used clinically for decades, without cross-matching, on the assumption that they are immune-privileged. In the equine model, we demonstrate innate and adaptive immune responses after repeated intra-articular injection with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) mismatched allogeneic MSCs, but not MHC matched allogeneic or autologous MSCs. We document increased peri-articular edema and synovial effusion, increased synovial cytokine and chemokine concentrations, and development of donor-specific antibodies in mismatched recipients compared with recipients receiving matched allogeneic or autologous MSCs.

Development of a Canine Rigid Body Musculoskeletal Computer Model to Evaluate Gait.

Background: Kinematic and kinetic analysis have been used to gain an understanding of canine movement and joint loading during gait. By non-invasively predicting muscle activation patterns and forces during gait, musculoskeletal models can further our understanding of normal variability and muscle activation patterns and force profiles characteristic of gait.

Methods: Pelvic limb kinematics and kinetics were measured for a 2 year old healthy female Dachshund (5.

Evaluation of a low-technology system to obtain morphological and mobility trial measurements in dogs and investigation of potential predictors of canine mobility.

Objective: To develop a low-technology system that can be used by dog owners to obtain morphological and mobility measurements in companion dogs as candidate components of an eventual canine frailty scale.

Animals: 57 adult (≥ 1-year-old) dogs enrolled by 43 owners.

Procedures: Morphological measurements of dogs were performed by investigators and dog owners.

Gastrointestinal pythiosis with concurrent presumptive gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis in a Boxer dog.

A 2-year-old female spayed Boxer dog was presented for a 1-month history of progressive hemorrhagic diarrhea with tenesmus and weight loss despite trial courses of antibiotics and diet change. Abdominal ultrasound revealed severe, focal thickening, and loss of normal architecture of the colonic wall with abdominal lymphadenomegaly. Dry-mount fecal cytology, performed on several consecutive days, consistently revealed numerous, round, 16-20 μm structures with basophilic, granular content, and a thin cell wall.

Removal of hemangiosarcoma cells from canine blood with a cell salvage system and leukocyte reduction filter.

Objective: To determine the ability of an intraoperative cell salvage (IOCS) system and a leukocyte reduction filter (LRF) to remove hemangiosarcoma (HSA) cells from canine blood.

Study Design: Cultured HSA cells were added to canine blood to simulate intraoperative hemorrhage and address hemoabdomen from ruptured splenic HSA. The blood/HSA cell mixture was processed through an IOCS, followed by LRF processing.

Early Blockade of Matrix Metalloproteinases in Spinal-Cord-Injured Dogs Results in a Long-Term Increase in Bladder Compliance.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is often accompanied by reduced bladder compliance, which contributes to adverse conditions including urinary tract infections and vesicoureteral reflux. Reduced compliance is, in part, attributed to extensive remodeling of the bladder wall, including the extracellular matrix (ECM). Here, we tested the hypothesis that blockade of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), known for their ability to remodel the ECM, improves bladder compliance in dogs with SCI.

Repeated intra-articular injection of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells causes an adverse response compared to autologous cells in the equine model.

Background: Intra-articular injection of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is efficacious in osteoarthritis therapy. A direct comparison of the response of the synovial joint to intra-articular injection of autologous versus allogeneic MSCs has not been performed. The objective of this study was to assess the clinical response to repeated intra-articular injection of allogeneic versus autologous MSCs prepared in a way to minimize xeno-contaminants in a large animal model.

Immune modulatory nanoparticle therapeutics for intracerebral glioma.

Background: Previously we showed therapeutic efficacy of unprotected miR-124 in preclinical murine models of glioblastoma, including in heterogeneous genetically engineered murine models by exploiting the immune system and thereby negating the need for direct tumor delivery. Although these data were promising, to implement clinical trials, we required a scalable formulation that afforded protection against circulatory RNases.

Methods: We devised lipid nanoparticles that encapsulate and protect the miRs from degradation and provide enhanced delivery into the immune cell compartment and tested in vivo antitumor effects.

Arachidonic acid pathway alterations in cerebrospinal fluid of dogs with naturally occurring spinal cord injury.

Background: Canine intervertebral disc πherniation causes a naturally-occurring spinal cord injury (SCI) that bears critical similarities to human SCI with respect to both injury pathomechanisms and treatment. As such, it has tremendous potential to enhance our understanding of injury biology and the preclinical evaluation of novel therapies. Currently, there is limited understanding of the role of arachidonic acid metabolites in canine SCI.

Electrolyte and acid/base changes in dogs undergoing autologous blood transfusion via a cell salvage device.

This study reports electrolyte and acid/base disturbances observed in clinical cases receiving autologous transfusion of blood processed by a cell salvage device. The records of 12 client-owned dogs that received an autologous transfusion via a cell salvage device with pre- and post-autologous transfusion blood work available were reviewed. Blood work from the 12 case dogs was compared to blood work from 12 control dogs with similar diseases.

Acute Phase Proteins in Cerebrospinal Fluid from Dogs with Naturally-Occurring Spinal Cord Injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) affects thousands of people each year and there are no treatments that dramatically improve clinical outcome. Canine intervertebral disc herniation is a naturally-occurring SCI that has similarities to human injury and can be used as a translational model for evaluating therapeutic interventions. Here, we characterized cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) acute phase proteins (APPs) that have altered expression across a spectrum of neurological disorders, using this canine model system.

Relationships between cerebrospinal fluid characteristics, injury severity, and functional outcome in dogs with and without intervertebral disk herniation.

Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is commonly acquired in dogs with intervertebral disk herniation (IVDH) and is a common method to assess inflammatory responses following spinal cord injury (SCI).

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to describe relationships between cisternal CSF characteristics, behavioral measures of SCI, T2- weighted (T2W) hyperintensity on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and long-term outcome in dogs with IVDH. Diagnostic accuracy of CSF for differentiating IVDH from other myelopathies was also assessed.

Efficacy of a metalloproteinase inhibitor in spinal cord injured dogs.

Matrix metalloproteinase-9 is elevated within the acutely injured murine spinal cord and blockade of this early proteolytic activity with GM6001, a broad-spectrum matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor, results in improved recovery after spinal cord injury. As matrix metalloproteinase-9 is likewise acutely elevated in dogs with naturally occurring spinal cord injuries, we evaluated efficacy of GM6001 solubilized in dimethyl sulfoxide in this second species. Safety and pharmacokinetic studies were conducted in naïve dogs.

Cerebrospinal fluid inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in naturally occurring canine spinal cord injury.

Canine intervertebral disk herniation (IVDH) is a common, naturally occurring form of spinal cord injury (SCI) that is increasingly being used in pre-clinical evaluation of therapies. Although IVDH bears critical similarities to human SCI with respect to lesion morphology, imaging features, and post-SCI treatment, limited data are available concerning secondary injury mechanisms. Here, we characterized cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytokines, and chemokines in dogs with acute, surgically treated, thoracolumbar IVDH (n=39) and healthy control dogs (n=21) to investigate early inflammatory events after SCI.

Associations between cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers and long-term neurologic outcome in dogs with acute intervertebral disk herniation.

Objective: To examine associations between CSF biomarkers, initial neurologic dysfunction, and long-term ambulatory outcome in dogs with acute intervertebral disk herniation (IVDH).

Design: Prospective clinical study.

Animals: 54 dogs with acute thoracolumbar IVDH and 16 clinically normal dogs.

Naturally occurring disk herniation in dogs: an opportunity for pre-clinical spinal cord injury research.

Traumatic spinal cord injuries represent a significant source of morbidity in humans. Despite decades of research using experimental models of spinal cord injury to identify candidate therapeutics, there has been only limited progress toward translating beneficial findings to human spinal cord injury. Thoracolumbar intervertebral disk herniation is a naturally occurring disease that affects dogs and results in compressive/contusive spinal cord injury.

Multicenter case-control study of signalment, diagnostic features, and outcome associated with cervical vertebral malformation-malarticulation in horses.

Objective: To compare signalment of horses with cervical vertebral malformation-malarticulation (CVM) with that of control horses and to describe results of clinical examination, diagnostic imaging and necropsy findings, and reported outcome in horses with CVM.

Design: Retrospective case-control study.

Animals: 270 horses with CVM and 608 control horses admitted to 6 veterinary hospitals from 1992 through 2007.

Subcutaneous infection of a cat by Colletotrichum species.

A 13-year-old, domestic shorthair cat was presented for evaluation of a right tarsal mass. Physical examination revealed a 5 cm × 5 cm × 5 cm, soft, fluctuant, subcutaneous tarsal mass. Thoracic radiographs revealed several discrete lung parenchymal lesions.