Systemic lipofuscinosis associated with a lesion of autophagic vacuolar myopathy in the diaphragmatic muscle of a cow

AbstractA 7-year-old Holstein-Friesian dairy cow that was culled because of traumatic motor dysfunction due to accidental falling down showed a variety of gross postmortem findings, such as fracture of the caudal vertebra, massive hemorrhage in the pelvic cavity, edematous swelling of the right sciatic nerve, and brown discoloration of the masseter muscle, tongue, cardiac muscle, diaphragmatic muscle, liver, adrenal cortex, and intestinal wall. Histopathologically, the discolored and some other internal organs/tissues exhibited varying degrees of intracellular deposition of lipofuscin granules. A small number of eosinophilic proteinaceous granules, along with lipofuscin granules, were found in the smooth muscle fibers of the intestinal muscular layer. The diaphragmatic muscle showed a lesion of autophagic vacuolar myopathy, representing frequent occurrence of autophagic vacuoles that contained amorphous materials, lipofuscin granules, and eosinophilic proteinaceous droplets. It is presumable that the pathogenetic mechanism of this systemic lipofuscinosis had a close relationship with ischemia due to anemic condition caused by pelvic hemorrhage. This bovine case was considered a newly identified variant of systemic lipofuscinosis associated with an autophagic vacuolar lesion in the diaphragmatic muscle.
Source: Comparative Clinical Pathology - Category: Pathology Source Type: research