Membrana pupilar persistente em felino: Relato de caso

A membrana pupilar persistente (MPP) é uma alteração congênita rara, caracterizada por finas faixas que atravessam a íris e geralmente não afetam a capacidade visual do indivíduo. Esta alteração não necessita obrigatoriamente de intervenção terapêutica; porém, o local de ligação dessa membrana pode gerar opacidade de córnea ou catarata. A etiologia não foi bem elucidada, entretanto, acredita-se que tenha fundo hereditário e esta alteração já foi relatada em humanos, cães, ratos e felinos. Foi atendimento, um felino, fêmea, não castrada, sem raça definida (SRD), aproximadamente 2 anos de idade, pesando 3,2 kg, encaminhado para avaliação pré-operatória de ovariohisterectomia eletiva, na qual observou-se a alteração ocular unilateral esquerda, compatível com membrana pupilar persistente. O objetivo deste trabalho foi apresentar um caso de MPP em um felino, espécie com rara incidência desta anomalia, tornando o caso relevante para melhor compreensão da epidemiologia desta condição. Por mais que a afecção não apresente uma repercussão ocular importante, recomenda-se de acompanhamento médico veterinário.

Monitoramento endócrino para identificação da puberdade em gato-mourisco (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) e gato-do-mato-pequeno (Leopardus guttulus)

Entender sobre a fisiologia e comportamento das espécies é de grande importância para a reprodução ex situ, desta forma o objetivo deste trabalho foi identificar o início da puberdade em animais da espécie Herpailurus yagouaroundi e Leopardus guttulus de forma não invasiva, utilizando dados obtidos da extração dos andrógenos fecais, assim como verificar a eficácia de um kit comercial (Testosterona EIA DRG-1559®) para identificação das variações de andrógenos fecais. Foram utilizadas amostras fecais de machos de H. yagouaroundi (n=2) cativos no Zoológico da UNISEP – Dois Vizinhos – PR e no Zoológico Municipal de Cascavel - PR e L. guttulus (n=1) cativo no Refúgio Biológico Bela Vista da Itaipu Binacional – Foz do Iguaçu – PR. As amostras fecais coletadas foram mantidas em freezer a -20ºC até o final das coletas. Para a dosagem dos andrógenos fecais as amostras passaram por um processo de desidratação a 80ºC por 72 horas, em seguida foram moídas e peneiradas, retirado 0,20g de amostra e adicionados 5 ml de metanol a 90%, em seguida passou por processo de agitação durante 15 minutos e centrifugação por mais 15 minutos, ao final foram coletados 2ml do sobrenadante para a dosagem dos andrógenos extraídos. Para a dosagem dos metabólitos de andrógenos foi realizada a diluição de 1:4 em pink PBS e realizada a técnica de enzimoimunoensaio, utilizando kit comercial (DRG Testosterone EIA-1559® - EUA) com leitura em equipamento de ELISA (Biotek ELISA ELx800, fabricado em Winooski - EUA). A identificação das variações de andrógenos fecais foi realizada através de gráficos que indicaram picos (média + 1,5 desvios padrões). A utilização do kit DRG (Testosterone EIA-1559®) foi eficaz para detectar variações de andrógenos em amostras fecais das espécies H. yagouaroundi e L. guttulus, permitindo o monitoramento endócrino de forma não invasiva. Foi possível identificar picos nos três gráficos que representam os animais testados, indicando que todos tiveram início do aumento das concentrações de andrógenos fecais em idades entre 10 a 12 meses, sendo condizente com a literatura encontrada referente a de gatos domésticos, a qual pode ser utilizada como base de comparação pelo porte aproximado das espécies destes felídeos, caracterizando o início da puberdade nestas espécies.

Bullous Pemphigoid in a Dog

Background: In dogs, bullous pemphigoid (BP) is a subepithelial autoimmune disease, a rare dermatopathy in the clinical routine. BP is characterized by formation of vesicles and subepidermal blisters that result from dissolution of the dermal-epithelial junction. Clinical signs of BP usually include severe dermatological alterations with a variable prognosis. The aim of this work is to report a case of BP in a dog to contribute information for diagnosis, and to present clinical and pathological aspects that emerge during development of BP.Case: An adult male mongrel dog exhibited hyperemic, exudative, crusty lesions on the lip commissure and periocular areas. Results from laboratory tests were normal. Results from parasitological and mycological tests on skin scrapings were negative. Imprint cytology of the crusts revealed presence of gram-positive cocci bacteria. In the histopathological analysis of punch biopsy material, the epidermis was detached from the dermis, leading to formation of vesicles. There were inflammatory infiltrates containing neutrophils, eosinophils, and high amounts of fibrin, and areas of multifocal orthokeratotic hyperkeratosis. Multifocal infiltrates containing lymphocytes, histiocytes, and plasma cells were observed on the superficial portions of the dermis, which indicated a diagnosis of BP. After the definitive clinical diagnosis, the animal was treated with enrofloxacin (Baytril Flavour®; 5 mg/kg once a day for 10 days), and prednisolone (Prediderm®; 2 mg/kg once a day until further instructions). On the follow-up visit, 15 days later, the clinical picture had improved, and the lesions had decreased. Continuity of the treatment was prescribed, along with a gradual decrease in the corticoid dose. The dose of prednisolone was initially reduced to 1 mg/kg once a day, and later to 0.5 mg/kg until improvement of the clinical status of the patient. Remission of the lesions was observed 13 weeks later.Discussion: The diagnosis of BP was established after identification of the clinical cutaneous lesions and observation of microscopic findings on punch biopsy material obtained from the ocular and lip regions. BP does not exhibit breed or sex predisposition, and affects adult dogs. The clinical signs of BP are characteristic of autoimmune diseases that affect the dermoepidermal junction, and consist of erythematous, ulcerated, crusty, and painful lesions on the nose, dorsal area of the muzzle, and periorbital region. However, these lesions must be differentiated, by histological analysis, from several other conditions with a similar clinical presentation. Diseases that must be considered in the differential diagnosis comprise other variants of the pemphigus complex, lupus erythematosus, drug eruption, erythema multiforme, toxic epidermal necrolysis, epitheliotropic lymphoma, inherited bullous epidermolysis, mucous membrane pemphigoid, and lymphoreticular neoplasia. The clinicopathological findings indicated that the lesions were compatible with BP. The occurrence of necrotic and erythematous lesions is due to production of antibodies accompanied by a strong response of neutrophils, which results in loss of cell adhesion and epidermal necrosis. The presence of detachment of the epidermis from the dermis, inflammation in the superficial portion of the dermis, and infiltrates containing lymphocytes, histiocytes and plasma cells observed at the histopathological examination indicated the occurrence of BP. The skin histopathological examination warranted establishment of a diagnosis and therapeutic success. The lack of recurrence of clinical manifestations 43 weeks after the end of the glucocorticoid treatment demonstrated that the therapeutic approach and the cooperation of the owner are essential for success of the treatment.

Cryopreservation of margay (Leopardus wiedii) spermatozoa: Effects of different extenders and frozen protocols

Sperm cryopreservation offers many benefits to wild felids conservation programs. However, the implementation of these programs is limited by the different responses of each species to the cryopreservation protocols and extenders used, requiring the formulation of species-specific protocols. For this purpose, semen samples from 6 margays (Leopardus wiedii) were submitted to 2 cryopreservation protocols: 1) manual freezing (cooling rate of - 0.33 °C/min at 5 °C/180 min and freezing rate with two steps - 9 °C/min for 2 min and -19.1 °C/min for 2 min) and 2) automatic freezing machine (cooling rate of - 0.25 °C/min at 5 °C/120 min and freezing rate with one step -20 °C/min for 8.3 min) using 2 commercial extenders, an egg yolk-based (Test Yolk Buffer; TYB) and an egg yolk-free extender (AndroMed; MED). Post-thawed sperm quality was assessed at 3 time points (immediately after thawing and 1 and 2 h post-thawed) by sperm motility index (SMI), plasma membrane and acrosomal integrity, and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Regarding SMI, TYB yielded superior results (29.4 ± 3.5%) compared to MED (11.2 ± 2.8%; p < 0.002) immediately after thawing until 2 h after thawing (TYB 3.9 ± 1.7% and MED 0.0 ± 0.0%; p < 0.05). Furthermore, the automated freezing method provided higher motility compared to the manual freezing procedure immediately post-thaw (25.08 ± 3.66% and 15.78 ± 3.29%, respectively) and 1 h post-thaw (13.71 ± 2.56% and 6.03 ± 1.97%, respectively; p < 0.05). The percentage of intact acrosomes and plasma membranes and the percentage of sperm with high MMP were superior for TYB when compared to MED regardless of cryopreservation protocol (p < 0.05). Conversely, the interaction between cryopreservation protocols and extenders was observed for MMP where TYB exhibits better results compared to MED (p < 0.05) in both procedures, but it was higher in automated procedures. For MED, no changes were found in MMP between procedures. Considering only TYB, samples showed higher MMP when submitted to an automated procedure (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the slow cooling rates with shorter time of exposure to glycerol contributed to minimize cryodamage in the Margays' sperm. Moreover, results indicated that association between TYB and automatic freezing machine ensured the minimal quality of spermatozoa after thawing required for further use in in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).