Medycyna Wet. 66 (7), 489-494, 2010
| Katkiewicz M., Osińska B. |
| Lipidosis of dog adrenals in the histopathological examination |
| The aim of this work was to evaluate the histopathological changes in dog adrenals with a special attention to cortical-cell lipidosis. The routine histopathological examinations were performed in adrenals, which were obtained post mortem from 50 dogs of both sexes, 1-22 years old. The research revealed the presence of lipidosis in the cells of zona reticulosa, and/or proliferation of cortical cells. The type of proliferation was variable, from simple hyperplasia related to hyperstimulation of the secretion of cortical cells up to benign or malignant neoplasms. A special attention was paid to the lipidosis of cortex cells. This type of degenerative changes results from disturbances in the cell lipid metabolism. The affected cells were observed in dogs older than 1 year, and their number increased with the animal’s age. Lipidosis alone was found in 8% cases, in 16% cases it was combined with hyperplasia of cortex cells, and in 30% cases it was accompanied by a neoplastic growth. Pathological accumulation of cytoplasmic lipids may result from metabolic disturbances due to the exposure to various toxic substances. The pathologic process may lead to the necrobiosis of cell nuclei. In the adrenals examined, lipidosis affected the cells in zona reticularis. Lipidosis did not appear to be related to the sex of the dogs, but the degeneration tended to increase in older dogs. It must be stressed, however, that in about half the cases examined (36%) lipidosis was not observed in adrenals with hyperplastic or neoplastic changes. |
| Key words: dog, adrenals, histopathology, lipidosis |