The naturally occuring inflammatory arthropathies of the dog. A clinical, pathological and immunological study, including a consideration of the comparative aspects of these diseases in man and the dog

Bennett, David (1980) The naturally occuring inflammatory arthropathies of the dog. A clinical, pathological and immunological study, including a consideration of the comparative aspects of these diseases in man and the dog. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

A group of joint-diseases characterised by a marked synovitis has been identified in the dog and distinguished from the degenerative arthropathies. These were designated the inflammatory arthropathies and divided into five groups:- Group I-rheumatoid arthritis. Group II - arthritis associated with systemic lupus erythematosus, Group III - infectious arthritis. Group IV - arthritis associated with bacterial endocarditis, and,Group V - idiopathic (including enteropathic)arthritis. A total of 82 dogs were included in the study, 21 in Group I, 4 in Group II, 12 in Group III, 7 in Group IV and 38 in Group V. Various criteria were used to identify each of these types of inflammatory arthropathy and were based on those used in the human patient. The equivalent of the human diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and enteropathic arthritis have been identified in the dog and provide naturally occurring models for further study. The study included assessments of the clinical, radiographical, haematological, biochemical, microbiological,immunological and pathological features. Synovial fluid analyses are also reported. Details of treatment are given. Most of the canine rheumatoid arthritis patients showed a non-septic symmetrical polyarthritis, sometimes with systemic illness (pyrexia, anorexia, lethargy) with destructive bony changes visible on the joint radiographs. Other lesions besides those of the joints were identified in some cases. The cases of systemic lupus erythematosus were characterised by a polyarthritis associated with autoimmune haemolytic anaemia, nervous disease or albuminuria. The dogs with simple infectious arthritis had involvement of one or two joints only and systemic signs were rare. Bacterial organisms were cultured from the joints in all cases. Some of these dogs were presented with only a mild lameness associated with a "low-grade" joint infection. Those dogs with arthritis and bacterial endocarditis generally had systemic signs and a cardiac murmur. Often, several joints were involved but not as many as in the rheumatoid and idiopathic cases. In addition to a septic arthritis, most of the dogs with bacterial endocarditis had a non-septic (possibly immune complex) synovitis. Sometimes bony destructive lesions were seen on the radiographs of infected joints. Dogs with idiopathic arthritis most often showed a non-destructive, bilaterally symmetrical, non-septic polyarthritis and the majority also exhibited systemic illness. The idiopathic group comprised those dogs which did not satisfy the criteria for the other types of inflammatory joint disease. Several of these dogs showed lesions of other body systems. Two dogs classed as cases of enteropathic arthritis had a polyarthritis associated with an ulcerative colitis. Routine haematological and biochemical examinations revealed several abnormalities in all five groups of dog, e.g. anaemia, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, elevated blood enzymes, raised blood globulin and proteinuria. The histopathological examinations of the joints demonstrated a marked synovitis in all groups of dog. Villous hypertrophy of the synovial membrane was most often seen in the rheumatoid dogs. The production of a granulation (pannus) tissue associated with cartilage and bone destruction was most commonly seen in the rheumatoid and infectious groups of dog. The direct immunofluorescent technique was used to study the immunopathology of the synovitis in the five groups. Evidence for locally produced immune complexes was obtained in all groups. Evidence for the deposition of circulating immune complexes in the blood vessel walls of the synovium V7as obtained in some of the rheumatoid, bacterial endocarditis and idiopathic dogs. An important part of the study was the development and assessment of laboratory tests for the identification of certain autoantibodies in the dog, particularly antinuclear antibody and rheumatoid factor. The most useful tests were the indirect immunofluorescent test for antinuclear antibody, using frozen rat liver sections as the substrate and the modified Rose-Waaler test using sheep red blood cells coated with dog antibodies, for rheumatoid factor.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Adviser: D D Lawson
• Keywords: Veterinary science
• Date of Award: 1980
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1980-72650
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 11 Jun 2019 11:06
• Last Modified: 11 Jun 2019 11:06
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/72650