A canine encephalomyelopathy with morphological abnormalities in mitochondria

A progressive encephalomyelopathy of insidious onset affecting a 16-month-old dog is described. Clinically, the dog was ataxic, stumbled into objects and showed mild behavioral abnormalities. Light microscopic findings included profound degeneration and astrogliosis of the optic pathways, loss of Purkinje neurons, focal bilateral and symmetrical brain stem spongiosis and diffuse neuroaxial astrogliosis with swollen and abnormally shaped nuclei. Ultrastructurally, there were giant and bizarre mitochondria within neuronal perikarya and axons as well as diffuse loosening of the cerebral and cerebellar neuropil. These neuropathological findings resemble the mitochondrial encephalomyopathies of man.