Bovine spastic paresis: Current knowledge and scientific voids

Application of tenotomy on Korean native cattle (Hanwoo) with spastic paresis symptoms in the field

Bovine spastic paresis (BSP) is a neuromuscular disorder characterized by hypertension and stiffness of hindlimb. Two Korean native cattle (Hanwoo) calves developed BSP or BSP-like symptoms, and a tenotomy of superficial tendon of medial head and deep tendon of lateral head of gastrocnemius muscle was performed for treatment. A cast was applied postoperatively to prevent muscle rupture and was removed three weeks later. The prognosis was evaluated at 3 weeks, 6 and 18 months postoperatively. Neither calf showed any other postoperative sequelae. This is the first case study to report the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of BSP in Hanwoo.

Dystonia in veterinary neurology

Dystonia is a clinical sign and main feature of many movement disorders in humans as well as veterinary species. It is characterized by sustained or intermittent involuntary muscle contractions causing abnormal (often repetitive) movements, postures, or both. This review discusses the terminology and definition of dystonia, its phenomenology, and its pathophysiology, and provides considerations regarding the diagnosis and treatment of dystonia in dogs and cats. In addition, currently recognized or reported disorders in dogs and cats in which dystonia is a particular or main feature are discussed and comparisons are made between disorders featuring dystonia in humans and animals. We suggest that when describing the phenomenology of dogs and cats with dystonia, if possible the following should be included: activity being performed at onset (e.g., resting or running or exercise-induced), body distribution, duration, responsiveness (subjective), severity, temporal pattern (i.e., paroxysmal or persistent, severity at onset and at later stages), presence or absence of autonomic signs (e.g., salivation), presence or absence of preceding signs (e.g., restlessness), presence or absence of signs after dystonia subsides (e.g., sleepiness), coexistence of other movement disorders, any other neurological manifestations, and possible links to administered medications, intoxications or other associated factors. We also suggest that dystonia be classified based on its etiology as either structural genetic, suspected genetic, reactive, or unknown.

Recognising the potential of large animals for modelling neuromuscular junction physiology and disease

The aetiology and pathophysiology of many diseases of the motor unit remain poorly understood and the role of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) in this group of disorders is particularly overlooked, especially in humans, when these diseases are comparatively rare. However, elucidating the development, function and degeneration of the NMJ is essential to uncover its contribution to neuromuscular disorders, and to explore potential therapeutic avenues to treat these devastating diseases. Until now, an understanding of the role of the NMJ in disease pathogenesis has been hindered by inherent differences between rodent and human NMJs: stark contrasts in body size and corresponding differences in associated axon length underpin some of the translational issues in animal models of neuromuscular disease. Comparative studies in large mammalian models, including examination of naturally occurring, highly prevalent animal diseases and evaluation of their treatment, might provide more relevant insights into the pathogenesis and therapy of equivalent human diseases. This review argues that large animal models offer great potential to enhance our understanding of the neuromuscular system in health and disease, and in particular, when dealing with diseases for which nerve length dependency might underly the pathogenesis.

Frameshift Variant in Novel Adenosine-A1-Receptor Homolog Associated With Bovine Spastic Syndrome/Late-Onset Bovine Spastic Paresis in Holstein Sires

Since their first description almost 100 years ago, bovine spastic paresis (BSP) and bovine spastic syndrome (BSS) are assumed to be inherited neuronal-progressive diseases in cattle. Affected animals are characterized by (frequent) spasms primarily located in the hind limbs, accompanied by severe pain symptoms and reduced vigor, thus initiating premature slaughter or euthanasia. Due to the late onset of BSP and BSS and the massively decreased lifespan of modern cattle, the importance of these diseases is underestimated. In the present study, BSP/BSS-affected German Holstein breeding sires from artificial insemination centers were collected and pedigree analysis, genome-wide association studies, whole genome resequencing, protein-protein interaction network analysis, and protein-homology modeling were performed to elucidate the genetic background. The analysis of 46 affected and 213 control cattle revealed four significantly associated positions on chromosome 15 (BTA15), i.e., AC_000172.1:g.83465449A>G (-log₁₀P = 19.17), AC_000172.1:g.81871849C>T (-log₁₀P = 8.31), AC_000172.1:g.81872621A>T (-log₁₀P = 6.81), and AC_000172.1:g.81872661G>C (-log₁₀P = 6.42). Two additional loci were significantly associated located on BTA8 and BTA19, i.e., AC_000165.1:g.71177788T>C and AC_000176.1:g.30140977T>G, respectively. Whole genome resequencing of five affected individuals and six unaffected relatives (two fathers, two mothers, a half sibling, and a full sibling) belonging to three different not directly related families was performed. After filtering, a homozygous loss of function variant was identified in the affected cattle, causing a frameshift in the so far unknown gene locus LOC100848076 encoding an adenosine-A1-receptor homolog. An allele frequency of the variant of 0.74 was determined in 3,093 samples of the 1000 Bull Genomes Project.

Bovine spastic syndrome: a review

Bovine spastic syndrome (BSS) was described for the first time in 1941. The disease occurs in various-maybe even all-cattle breeds and is a chronic-progressive neuromuscular disorder that commonly affects cattle of at least three years of age. Typical clinical signs of the disease are clonic-tonic cramps of the hindlimbs that occur in attacks. Since BSS does not recover, affected animals can only be treated symptomatically by improving welfare conditions and management factors, or with physical therapy or drugs. Although still not irrevocably proven, BSS is assumed to be a hereditary disease. Therefore, affected animals should be excluded from breeding, which negatively affects economics and breeding. Besides epidemiology, clinical signs, aetiopathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment, this review discusses genetic aspects and differences to the similar disease bovine spastic paresis. Furthermore, this review also picks up the discussion on possible parallels between human multiple sclerosis and BSS as a further interesting aspect, which might be of great interest for future research.

Ruminant neurological disease: a retrospective cohort study

Between January 2006 and June 2016, 96 ruminants with neurological signs were donated to the Scottish Centre for Production Animal Health and Food Safety (SCPAHFS), University of Glasgow, by veterinarians in the field representing 5.4 per cent of all submissions. Forty-seven different neurological presenting signs were reported with 79 per cent of the donated patients presenting with abnormal gait. All cases presenting with abnormalities in more than 4 out of 10 neurological categories died or were euthanased on welfare grounds. Calves were significantly more likely to present with neurological disorders than adult cattle compared with the proportion of calves: cows in the Scottish cattle population and total case population donated to SCPAHFS. Lesions were most commonly localised to the spinal cord in sheep 47 per cent (16), the peripheral nervous system in cattle 45 per cent (28) and to the brain in the overall population 41 per cent (39). The most common aetiology of neurological pathologies observed was infectious or inflammatory 28 per cent (27). Definitive diagnoses could be reached in 84 per cent (81) of patients. When postmortem reports were available, they produced a diagnosis in 70 per cent (52) of cases and contradicted clinical diagnoses in 38 per cent (26) of cases. The most frequently diagnosed conditions in ruminants over the 10 years were spastic paresis, vertebral osteomyelitis and listeriosis.

Surgical Management of Fractures and Tendons

Long bone fractures and disorders of tendons and ligaments represent a significant proportion of surgical orthopedic cases presented to ruminant veterinarians. The presentation of these patients, their diagnostic work-up, surgical treatment, and expected outcome will be discussed. The outcome of these cases depends largely on the presenting problem; however, accurate diagnosis and prompt surgical intervention can greatly improve the outcome of many of these cases.

Bovine spastic paresis: A review of the genetic background and perspectives for the future

Bovine spastic paresis (BSP) is a sporadic, progressive neuromuscular disease that is thought to affect all breeds of cattle. The disease manifests as a unilateral or bilateral hyperextension of the hind limb due to increased muscle tone or permanent spasm of mainly the gastrocnemius and/or the quadriceps muscle. Clinical signs only appear in rising, standing and moving animals, which is an important diagnostic feature. Although several medical treatments have been described, surgical procedures such as neurectomy or tenectomy are generally indicated. Even though complete recovery can be achieved, BSP-affected animals should not be used for breeding, since BSP is commonly considered a hereditary disease. The condition therefore negatively affects animal welfare, economics and breeding. When first described in 1922, BSP was already assumed to be heritable, and this assumption has been perpetuated by subsequent authors who have only discussed its possible modes of inheritance, which included monogenetic and polygenetic modes and gene-environment interactions. Besides some clinical aspects and the consideration of the tarsal joint angle as a BSP-correlated trait, this review mainly focuses on the assumed genetic aspects of BSP. Evaluation of the published literature demonstrates that to date, irrevocable proof for the assumed heritability of BSP is still missing. The assumption of heredity is further contradicted by known allele frequencies and incidences of proven hereditary diseases in cattle, such as arachnomelia or bovine spinal muscular atrophy. Consequently, future research is needed to determine the cause of spastic paresis. Procedures that will help test the null-hypothesis ('BSP is not hereditary') and possible modes of inheritance are discussed in this review.

Dystonia and Paroxysmal Dyskinesias: Under-Recognized Movement Disorders in Domestic Animals? A Comparison with Human Dystonia/Paroxysmal Dyskinesias

Dystonia is defined as a neurological syndrome characterized by involuntary sustained or intermittent muscle contractions causing twisting, often repetitive movements, and postures. Paroxysmal dyskinesias are episodic movement disorders encompassing dystonia, chorea, athetosis, and ballism in conscious individuals. Several decades of research have enhanced the understanding of the etiology of human dystonia and dyskinesias that are associated with dystonia, but the pathophysiology remains largely unknown. The spontaneous occurrence of hereditary dystonia and paroxysmal dyskinesia is well documented in rodents used as animal models in basic dystonia research. Several hyperkinetic movement disorders, described in dogs, horses and cattle, show similarities to these human movement disorders. Although dystonia is regarded as the third most common movement disorder in humans, it is often misdiagnosed because of the heterogeneity of etiology and clinical presentation. Since these conditions are poorly known in veterinary practice, their prevalence may be underestimated in veterinary medicine. In order to attract attention to these movement disorders, i.e., dystonia and paroxysmal dyskinesias associated with dystonia, and to enhance interest in translational research, this review gives a brief overview of the current literature regarding dystonia/paroxysmal dyskinesia in humans and summarizes similar hereditary movement disorders reported in domestic animals.