ABSTRACT
A case of muscular dystrophy in a 1-year-old male castrated Domestic Shorthair cat is presented. The most striking clinical features were regurgitation, a stiff gait, an increased muscle tone and exercise intolerance. Serum biochemistry panels showed a marked increase in the muscle specific enzyme creatine kinase, and moderately elevated levels of LDH, AST and ALT. Spontaneous electrical activity of skeletal muscles in the form of "bizarre high frequency discharges" and "myotonia-like repetitive discharges" were registered. Gross pathology revealed a marked hypertrophy of the skeletal muscles. The main histopathological changes were myofiber necrosis and calcification, variation in fiber size, hypertrophied muscle fibers of type I and type II and fiber splitting. Indirect immunofluorescence showed dystrophin deficiency. Feline muscular dystrophy resembles the X-linked human Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Besides the X-linked muscular dystrophy in the mouse and Golden Retriever the feline muscular dystrophy could represent another valuable animal model for the study of DMD.
Subject(s)
Cat Diseases , Muscular Dystrophy, Animal , Alanine Transaminase/blood , Animals , Aspartate Aminotransferases/blood , Calcinosis/veterinary , Cat Diseases/pathology , Cat Diseases/physiopathology , Cats , Creatine Kinase/blood , Dystrophin/analysis , Electromyography , Fluorescent Antibody Technique , Hypertrophy , L-Lactate Dehydrogenase/blood , Male , Muscles/chemistry , Muscles/pathology , Muscles/physiopathology , Muscular Dystrophy, Animal/pathology , Muscular Dystrophy, Animal/physiopathology , NecrosisABSTRACT
An examination apparatus for the study of both compound muscle action potentials and related isometric force of the target muscle after supramaximum electrical stimulation of the respective nerve is described. Force transducers were used to record forces from the forelimb paws and the jaws of the dog. The unit is suitable for the clinical examination of neuromuscular transmission disturbances and for testing the effect of relaxant agents.
Subject(s)
Dogs/physiology , Electromyography/veterinary , Muscles/physiology , Action Potentials , Animals , Electromyography/instrumentation , Transducers/veterinaryABSTRACT
In 10 healthy anaesthetized female dogs the ulnar and the mandibular nerve were stimulated supramaximally by repetitive electric impulses according to a fixed programme. To evaluate the neuromuscular transmission system the course of the evoked compound muscle action potential and the near-isometric force of forelimb and masticatory muscles were studied respectively. The presented results are comparable to values obtained from small hand muscles of conscious, healthy human subjects. The simultaneous measurement of both the electrical and the force response may improve the diagnostic accuracy of the examination in presumed neuromuscular transmission failure in the dog, as it does in humans.
