Takeda S, Tanaka H, Shimada A, Morita T, Ishihara A, Adilbish A, Delgermaa B, Gungaa O. Cerebellar ataxia suspected to be caused by Oxytropis glabra poisoning in western Mongolian goats.
J Vet Med Sci 2014;
76:839-46. [PMID:
24572629 PMCID:
PMC4108767 DOI:
10.1292/jvms.14-0023]
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Abstract
In the last five years in western Mongolia, a neurological disorder and
resultant economic loss have developed in goats, sheep, cattle and horses: association of
the disease with ingestion of Oxytropis glabra, a toxic plant, was
suggested. Affected goats showed neurological signs, including ataxia, incoordination,
hind limb paresis, fine head tremor and nystagmus. Three goats, one with moderate clinical
signs and the other two with severe clinical signs, were necropsied and examined to
describe and characterize the histologic, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural lesions.
Although no gross pathological changes were observed in a variety of organs including the
central nervous system of these goats, microscopic examination of the cerebellum
demonstrated degenerative changes in all these goats, such as vacuolar changes and loss of
Purkinje cells, torpedo formation in the granular layer, increased number of spheroids in
the cerebellar medulla, and loss of axons and myelin sheaths of Purkinje cells. The
chemical analysis of the dried plant detected 0.02–0.05% (dry weight basis) of
swainsonine. This is the first report describing the clinical and pathological findings in
Mongolian goats suspected to be affected by O. glabra poisoning.
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