Epidermolytic ichthyosis in a dog: Clinical histopathological, immunohistochemical an ultrastructural findings

Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis (EH) in man is a complex of congenital, ichthy osiform skin diseases characterized clinically by blistering and hyperkerat osis. These clinical signs are the result of a collapse of the cytoskeleton , seen ultrastructurally as tonofilament clumping and cytolysis within term inally differentiating epidermal cells. In man, specific mutations in kerat in 1, 2e, 9 or 10 underlie the various types of EH. This report describes t he clinical, histopathological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural fin dings in a 6-month-old dog with severe multifocal hyperkeratosis. The morph ological changes were comparable with those of EH in man, indicating that t his disease, presumably with a similar underlying pathogenetic mechanism, a lso occurs in the dog. (C) 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.