E. Rapp et S. Kolbl, ULTRASTRUCTURAL-STUDY OF UNIDENTIFIED INCLUSIONS IN THE CORNEA AND IRIDOCORNEAL ANGLE OF DOGS WITH PANNUS, American journal of veterinary research, 56(6), 1995, pp. 779-785
The corneas and/or the iridocorneal angles of 13 dogs were examined mo
rphologically by use of transmission electron microscopy. Virologic id
entification techniques also were used for tissue from 2 dogs. Four do
gs had clinical signs of chronic superficial keratitis or pannus, 9 do
gs had normal eyes. In the tissue from 7 dogs (4 German Shepherd Dogs
with chronic superficial keratitis; 2 German Shepherd Dogs and 1 mixed
-breed dog with normal eyes) we found unusual cytoplasmic inclusions.
Inclusions were not found in dogs of other breeds with normal eyes. Th
e inclusions were observed in corneal fibroblasts, vascular endothelia
l cells, and macrophages, as well as in trabecular cells and fibroblas
ts of the iridocorneal angle. They were often grouped within the rough
endoplasmic reticulum or found free in the cytoplasm. The cylindrical
particles had a helical substructure, measuring 20 nm in diameter and
up to 400 nm long, with a distance of 10 nm for the repeating turns.
Results of virologic culturing on canine and seal kidney cells were ne
gative, as was staining with fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled antibo
dies against canine distemper virus, canine herpesvirus, canine parvov
irus, and canine adenovirus. Relevance of the inclusion bodies describ
ed is discussed. Because our results seem to hint at a correlation bet
ween presence of the rod shaped particles and German Shepherd Dogs wit
h pannus, we suggest that an etiologic or pathogenic connection exists
that merits further examination.