Cerebellar Abiotrophy Across Domestic Species

Movement Disorders and Cerebellar Abiotrophy

Movement disorders are defined as involuntary movements that are not due to a painful stimulus or associated with changes in consciousness or proprioception. Diagnosis involves ruling out any lameness and neurologic disease and characterizing the gait during walking backward and forward and trotting. Shivers causes abnormal hindlimb hypertonicity during walking backward and, when advanced, a few strides walking forward. Stringhalt causes consistent hyperflexion during walking forward and trotting and variable difficulty when walking backward. Classification and potential causes are discussed as well as other enigmatic movement disorders in horses are presented. Cerebellar abiotrophy is reviewed.

Assessing genomic diversity and signatures of selection in Pinan cattle using whole-genome sequencing data

BACKGROUND

Crossbreeding is an important way to improve production beef cattle performance. Pinan cattle is a new hybrid cattle obtained from crossing Piedmontese bulls with Nanyang cows. After more than 30 years of cross-breeding, Pinan cattle show a variety of excellent characteristics, including fast growth, early onset of puberty, and good meat quality. In this study, we analyzed the genetic diversity, population structure, and genomic region under the selection of Pinan cattle based on whole-genome sequencing data of 30 Pinan cattle and 169 published cattle genomic data worldwide.  RESULTS: Estimating ancestry composition analysis showed that the composition proportions for our Pinan cattle were mainly Piedmontese and a small amount of Nanyang cattle. The analyses of nucleotide diversity and linkage disequilibrium decay indicated that the genomic diversity of Pinan cattle was higher than that of European cattle and lower than that of Chinese indigenous cattle. De-correlated composite of multiple selection signals, which combines four different statistics including θπ, CLR, F_ST, and XP-EHH, was computed to detect the signatures of selection in the Pinan cattle genome. A total of 83 genes were identified, affecting many economically important traits. Functional annotation revealed that these selected genes were related to immune (BOLA-DQA2, BOLA-DQB, LSM14A, SEC13, and NAALADL2), growth traits (CYP4A11, RPL26, and MYH10), embryo development (REV3L, NT5E, CDX2, KDM6B, and ADAMTS9), hornless traits (C1H21orf62), and climate adaptation (ANTXR2).

CONCLUSION

In this paper, we elucidated the genomic characteristics, ancestry composition, and selective signals related to important economic traits in Pinan cattle. These results will provide the basis for further genetic improvement of Pinan cattle and reference for other hybrid cattle related studies.

Transient Postural Vestibulo-Cerebellar Syndrome in Three Dogs With Presumed Cerebellar Hypoplasia

This case study presents a unique transient postural vestibular syndrome in three dogs. The transient postural symptoms present as pronounced vestibulo-cerebellar signs after altering the position of the head. Magnetic resonance imaging findings of the brain suggest caudal cerebellar hypoplasia, affecting vermis, and floccular lobes bilaterally in case 1, and hypoplasia of the nodulus vermis in cases 2 and 3. No progression of clinical signs was reported in minimum of 4 months period.

Cerebellar cortical degeneration associated with feline leukemia virus infection and cerebellar lymphoma in a young cat

Background:

Cerebellar cortical degeneration (CCD) is the premature death of cerebellar neurons of heterogeneous etiology that is uncommonly observed as a neurological complication of certain neoplasia.

Case Description:

Here, we report an 8-month-old male domestic cat with altered consciousness, symmetric ataxia, hypermetric gait, vertical positional nystagmus, mydriasis, strabismus, intention tremor of the head, and increased patellar reflexes. Neuroanatomical diagnosis suggested a multifocal brain dysfunction (cerebellar and cerebral). The cat tested seropositive for feline leukemia virus. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis indicated mononuclear and neutrophilic pleocytosis. Contrast computed tomography imaging revealed multiple hypodense heterogeneous areas in both cerebral hemispheres, mild ventriculomegaly at the level of the caudal fossa, and a circular sharply marginated, homogeneously hyperdense mass occupying the right cerebellar hemisphere. Postmortem study indicated a 1.1 × 1.3 × 1.2 cm mass in the right cerebellar hemisphere close to the vermis. Histopathological analysis showed diffuse and severe Purkinje cell loss with a decrease in granular cell density and moderate gliosis compatible with CCD. Further, numerous neoplastic lymphoid cells were observed in the infiltrated mass, consistent with a diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma. Immunohistochemistry showed CD20 expression, indicative of a B-cell immunophenotype. In humans, CCD is reported as a rare paraneoplastic syndrome in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma. CNS lymphoma and/or Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) infection were both considered as a possible cause of CCD in this case.

Conclusion:

This is the first described case of possible paraneoplastic cerebellar cortical degeneration associated with CNS lymphoma and/or FeLV infection in a domestic cat.

Late onset of cerebellar cortical degeneration in a Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus)

An 8-year-old female Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) started to show epilepsy-like seizures. Subsequent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations did not reveal any responsible lesions. The neurological symptoms worsened at the age of 10. This penguin became recumbent and died 6 months later after the apparition of the recumbency. At necropsy, only multiple yellowish necrotic lesions in the air sacs and lungs were found. Histopathological evaluation of the brain showed a marked loss of Purkinje cells and many hypertrophied parvalbumin-positive basket/stellate cells were seen in the cerebellar cortex. Calbindin immunohistochemistry demonstrated disrupted arrangement of dendrites in the Purkinje cells. This case was diagnosed as cerebellar cortical degeneration with a very late onset and a slow progression in a Magellanic penguin.