Nefropatia giovanile in un cane Yorkshire terrier: esame istologico ed ultrastrutturale

Familial renal diseases resulting in renal failure have been reported in several breeds of dogs and includeagenesis, hypoplasia, dysplasia, glomerulopathy, tubulointerstitial nephropathy and tubular transportdysfunction. We describe a case of juvenile nephropathy in a 5 month-old male Yorkshire terrier in which acongenital bilateral renal dysplasia is suspected. Histologically, there are increased number of fetal glomeruli,rare immature glomeruli, glomerular cystic atrophy, rare glomerular sclerosis and lipidosis, intratubularcrystals, multifocal proliferation of arterioles, rare tubular cystic dilation, mild diffuse interstitial fibrosis. Bymeans of morphometry, a marked reduction in mature glomeruli number and an increased percentage of fetalglomeruli compared to age-matched controls are detected. PAS staining and semithin sections analysisreveal thickening of Bowman’s capsule and mesangial matrix. Glomerular basement membrane (GBM) isthickened (700 ± 76.7 nm vs. 256.2 ± 43.4 of controls) and multilaminar. The reduced number of matureglomeruli, the prevalence of fetal glomeruli and rare immature glomeruli suggest a renal developmental arrest(juvenile nephropathy), without typical features of renal dysplasia. Interesting findings are the abnormalitiesof GBM, described also in human Alport syndrome, Samoyed hereditary glomerulopathy, Bull terrier andEnglish Cocker spaniel hereditary nephritis, familial glomerulonephropathies of other dog breeds andhereditary nephrotic mice (ICGN strain).[...]