Feline brain

OBJECTIVE: GM2 gangliosidosis is usually fatal by 5 years of age in its 2 major subtypes, Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff disease. First reported in 1881, GM2 gangliosidosis has no effective treatment today, and children succumb to the disease after a protracted neurodegenerative course and semi-vegetative state. This study seeks to further develop adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy for human translation. METHODS: Cats with Sandhoff disease were treated by intracranial injection of vectors expressing feline β-N-acetylhexosaminidase, the enzyme deficient in GM2 gangliosidosis...

Cats are one of the most common companion animals, and they differ from dogs in several important ways. Considering the central importance of anatomy in high-quality medicine, the treatment of the feline mandible, mostly during intraoral procedures requiring general anaesthesia, has many important features. In cats, the major artery of the brain is the maxillary artery that forms unique structure - the rete mirabile. The rete mirabile is a plexus like vascular structure that lies extracranially and communicates with brain arterial circle through the orbital fissure...

Brain aging has been correlated with high metallothionein I-II (MT-I/II) expression, iron and zinc dyshomeostasis, and Aβ deposition in humans and experimental animals. In the present study, iron and zinc accumulation, the expression of MT-I/II and Aβ42, and their potential association with aging in the feline brain were assessed. Tissue sections from the temporal and frontal grey (GM) and white (WM) matter, hippocampus, thalamus, striatum, cerebellum, and dentate nucleus were examined histochemically for the presence of age-related histopathological lesions and iron deposits and distribution...

INTRODUCTION/OBJECTIVES: Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a circulating biomarker of fibrosis. In humans, increased Gal-3 is predictive of myocardial fibrosis and adverse cardiac events. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential for Gal-3 as a cardiac biomarker in cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty cats were enrolled (25 healthy cats with normal hearts, 35 with HCM American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) stage B, and 21 with HCM ACVIM stage C)...

The detection of subtle changes in the pituitary dimensions has relevant clinical implications. In cats, a few studies have established the cut-off values of the pituitary gland's dimensions using small and inhomogeneous samples. The aims of this study were: to determine by computed tomography (CT) the pituitary linear dimensions and the pituitary-to-brain (P:B) ratio in a sample of domestic short-haired (DSH) cats; to assess the effects of sex, age, and weight on pituitary dimensions; and to evaluate the inter- and intra-observer agreement for such measurements...

Neural stem cell (NSC) lineage cells have not been fully identified in feline brains, and the NSC-like nature of feline glial tumors has not been determined. In this study, 6 normal cat brains (3 newborn and 3 older cats) and 13 feline glial tumors were analyzed using immunohistochemical NSC lineage markers. The feline glial tumors were subjected to immunohistochemical scoring followed by hierarchical cluster analysis. In newborn brains, glial acidic fibrillary protein (GFAP)/nestin/sex-determining region Y-box transcription factor 2 (SOX2)-immunopositive NSCs, SOX2-immunopositive intermediate progenitor cells, oligodendrocyte transcription factor 2 (OLIG2)/platelet-derived growth factor receptor-α (PDGFR-α)-immunopositive oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), OLIG2/GFAP-immunopositive immature astrocytes, and neuronal nuclear (NeuN)/β-3 tubulin-immunopositive mature neuronal cells were observed...

Approximately one in three traumatic spinal cord injuries (SCI) occurs during or shortly after the consumption of alcohol. A small number of retrospective clinical studies report variable effects of alcohol intoxication on mortality, neurological recovery, and complications after SCI. Some of these studies demonstrate a protective effect of alcohol intoxication on SCI outcomes while others show an increased complication risk. Preclinical studies in rat, ferret, and feline SCI models report a detrimental effect of ethanol intoxication on hemorrhage, motor recovery, and biochemical markers of tissue injury...

BACKGROUND: Global hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (GHIBI) results in variable degrees of neurological dysfunction. Limited data exists to guide prognostication on likelihood of functional recovery. HYPOTHESIS: Prolonged duration of hypoxic-ischemic insult and absence of neurological improvement in the first 72 hours are negative prognostic indicators. ANIMALS: Ten clinical cases with GHIBI. METHODS: Retrospective case series describing 8 dogs and 2 cats with GHIBI, including clinical signs, treatment, and outcome...

A series of landmark experiments conducted throughout the 20th century progressively localized the regions involved in consciousness to the reticular activating system (RAS) and its ascending projections. The first description of the RAS emerged in 1949 through seminal experiments performed by Moruzzi and Magoun in feline brainstems; additional experiments in the 1950s revealed connections between the RAS and the thalamus and neocortical structures. This knowledge has allowed for the explanation of disorders of consciousness with exquisite anatomic precision...

We present a case of occipital lobe meningioma resection in an elderly cat. The surgery was performed with the goal of avoiding major bleeding. An 11-year-old castrated indoor-only male Persian Chinchilla (5.5 kg) was presented with a month-long history of progressive tetraparesis for a left occipital lobe meningioma. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a T2-weighted heterogeneously hyperintensity and a T1-weighted well-contrast enhancing extradural mass in the left occipital lobe of the brain. Cerebral angiographic data were obtained using magnetic resonance (MRA) and computed tomography angiography (CTA)...

OBJECTIVES: Otitis media/interna (OMI) is the most common cause of peripheral vestibular disease in cats. The inner ear contains endolymph and perilymph, with perilymph being very similar in composition to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). As a very-low-protein fluid, it would be expected that normal perilymph should suppress on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) MRI sequences. Based on this, we hypothesized that MRI FLAIR sequences should provide a non-invasive way of diagnosing inflammatory/infectious diseases such as OMI in cats, something that has previously been demonstrated in humans and, more recently, in dogs...

Toxoplasma gondii is a successful coccidian parasite able to infect all warm-blooded animals and humans, causing one of the most common zoonoses worldwide. The Eurasian lynx ( Lynx lynx ) is one of the feline potential hosts of T. gondii in Switzerland, but little is known about its epidemiological role as a definitive or intermediate host. Serum samples from 183 Eurasian lynx collected from 2002 to 2021 were tested for antibodies to T. gondii by ELISA, IFAT and in case of inconclusive results, immunoblot. Antibodies to T...

OBJECTIVES: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis is used in the diagnostic investigation of cats with epileptic seizures. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of CSF analysis in cats with epileptic seizures that have unremarkable brain MRI or only hippocampal signal changes. METHODS: Unremarkable brain MRI or MRI studies with signal alterations in the hippocampus only in cats with suspected epilepsy and CFS analysis performed at the Small Animal Internal Department or Diagnostic Imaging Department at Vetmeduni Vienna, Austria, between 2011 and 2017 were reviewed...

Toxoplasma gondii ( T. gondii ) is a parasite capable of residing in the brain of their host which influences behaviour changes due to alterations in the neurotransmitters. Consequently, dopamine receptors (DRD) and indoleamine 2, 3 dioxygenase (IDO) dysregulation facilitate the progression of behaviour changes in a host as a response to infection. This study tested the effect of neurotransmitter changes as a result of T. gondii infection on rats cognitive impairment. The T. gondii strain of type I, II and III from Malaysia were previously identified by standard procedures...

It is important to plan radiotherapy treatment and establish optimal dose distribution to reduce the chances of side effects and injury. Because there are no commercially available tools for calculating dose distribution in orthovoltage radiotherapy in companion animals, we developed an algorithm to accomplish this and verified its characteristics using tumor disease cases. First, we used the Monte Carlo method to develop an algorithm to calculate the dose distribution of orthovoltage radiotherapy (280 kVp; MBR-320, Hitachi Medical Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) using BEAMnrc at our clinic...

In humans, post-traumatic hypopituitarism (PTHP) is a common complication of traumatic brain injury, with the most frequently reported hormonal deficiencies resulting in hyposomatotropism and hypogonadism, followed by hypothyroidism, hypocortisolism, and central diabetes insipidus. To date, PTHP has rarely been reported in cats, and the reported cases often describe a single hormone deficiency. This report details an approximately 7-month-old cat with a history of suspected traumatic brain injury at 5 wk of age, that presented with growth retardation (1...

Primary central nervous system (CNS) neoplasms are uncommonly diagnosed in cats. The majority of primary feline CNS neoplasms described in the veterinary literature consist of meningioma and glioma occurring mainly in the brain and less often in the spinal cord. Although most neoplasms can be diagnosed based on routine histologic evaluation, less typical tumors need to be further characterized using immunohistochemistry. This review compiles the relevant information about the most common primary CNS neoplasms of cats available in the veterinary literature, aiming to serve as a converging source of information for the topic...

OBJECTIVES: Hypertensive encephalopathy in cats is an important entity but is underestimated in clinical practice. This could be explained, in part, by non-specific clinical signs. The objective of this study was to characterise the clinical manifestations of hypertensive encephalopathy in cats. METHODS: Cats with systemic hypertension (SHT) recognised by routine screening, associated with underlying predisposing disease or a clinical presentation suggestive of SHT (neurological or non-neurological), were prospectively enrolled over a 2-year period...

The ability to differentiate clinical ventriculomegaly from incidental ventricular enlargement remains a challenge in veterinary radiology. Dilatation of one or both olfactory lobe recesses is occasionally seen on MRI of the brain in otherwise normal cats. The purpose of this study was therefore to determine the prevalence of this finding within a population of neurologically normal and neurologically abnormal cats, and to investigate associations with signalment, clinical and neurological examination findings, and MRI features...

Toxoplasma gondii causes one of the most frequent parasitic infections in vertebrates on earth. The present study aimed to assess the occurrence of T. gondii infection in cat-hunted wild small mammals, and to determine the circulating T. gondii genotypes in cat prey. There is evidence suggesting that T. gondii may manipulate rodents' behaviour enhancing transmission to their definitive feline host by facilitating predation. Given that most studies focusing on rodent behavior have been performed under laboratory conditions, we tested this hypothesis in the natural environment...