NEUROPATHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN GRASS SICKNESS OF HORSES

Pathological examinations were made on 6 horses with clinical grass sickness. Support for the diagnosis was obtained in 5 cases, in 4 of which chromatolysis and necrosis of neurons in specific regions of the central nervous system were also found. The local severity of these lesions appeared to be directly proportional to the duration of clinical illness. As the distribution of the lesions indicates a possible relationship to the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system it is tentatively suggested that these changes in the central nervous system may be of direct significance in the pathogenesis of grass sickness. © 1969.