men tin intermediate filaments. This feature , also possess ed by th e notochord," offers a clea r differentiation from chond ro sarco ma, which does not express cytokeratin .'Aside fro m human beings, cho rdo m a has been reported in rats,20,22,26 mink ," dogs," a ca t, ' and ferret s. 2 ,6,11 In a large study of chordoma in Fi sch er 344 rats, th e neoplasm occurred with a 3 : I male: female ratio, and m etastasis to th e lung wa s diagnosed in 42/ 56.22Here we report th e distinctive histomorphologic appearance of this neoplasm in 20 ferrets , further defin e its immunohistochemical features , and com pare it with chordoma of human beings. Abstract. The histomorph ologic and immu nohistochemical features of chordo ma in 20 ferrets were evaluated. The mean age was 3.4 years, and, in the cases for which sex was known, females (n = 10) outnumbered males (n = 5) two to one. All 20 tumors occurred on the tip of the tail. Nineteen of 20 tum ors (95%) were composed of three tissue components, often arranged concentrically with lobules of physaliferous cells at the periph ery, trabecular bone in the center, and cartilage in between. The bone often contain ed marrow and hematopoietic cells. One tumor lacked chondromatous or osseous tissue. Immunohistochemical results were consistent with previous studies of chordoma. All 20 tumors (100%) were positive for keratin and vimentin inter mediate fi laments; 15 (7 5%) were positive for S-I00 protein; and 17 (8 5%) were positive for neuron specific enolase. This neoplasm shares morphologic and immun ohistochemical featur es with "classic," as well as chondroid chordoma, of human beings, making it a potential animal model.Key words: Chondroid chordoma; chordo ma; ferrets; immunohistochemistry.Cho rd o m a is an uncommon neoplasm arising from remnants o f notoch ord. " Three o verlapping but di stinct typ es are recognized in human beings: I) " clas sic" cho rdom a, 2) " cho nd ro id" cho rdo ma, and 3) chordoma with a maligna nt spi nd le ce ll co m pone nt. " ("ded ifferentiated " chordo ma). " Di stinct types o f cho rdoma ha ve not been recognized in othe r species. In human beings, th e tumors arise primarily in th e sacrococcygeal and spheno-occipital regions with th e remainder a rising in th e ve rtebral axis.' Chordo m a is a slow-growing, locally aggressive neoplasm with a high rate of recurrence.9 U p to 30% are reported to m etastasize, particularly th ose of sacrococcygea l or ve rtebra l origin and usually during th e ph ase of recurrent di sease .' Met astases to bone, lung, lymph node, and skin ha ve been repo rted .' Cho rdo mas occu r with a 2: 1 m ale:Materials and Methods female ra tio in human beings." Twenty cases of chordo ma in ferrets (Mu stela put orius furoi Cho nd ro id ch ordoma arises primarily in the sphen o-(see Ta ble 1) were com piled from the Registry of Veterinary occipita l regio n and is charac te rized by chondroma-Path ology (Armed Forces Institut e of Pathology, Washingtous and chordo m ato us features." A few reports exist ton, DC) and...

Nine bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) calves that stranded in Virginia in 1996 and 1997 died of severe blunt-force trauma. Injuries were concentrated on the head and chest and multiple rib fractures, lung lacerations, and soft tissue contusions were prominent. Skeletal and/or soft tissue trauma occurred bilaterally in all of the calves. One had a bite wound across the left mandible that exhibited deep punctures consistent with the tooth placement in an adult bottlenose dolphin. The lesions were not compatible with predation, boat strike, fisheries interactions, rough-surf injury, or blast injury. However, they were similar to traumatic injuries described in stranded bottlenose dolphin calves and harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in Great Britain attributed to violent dolphin interactions. The evidence suggests that violent dolphin behavior was the cause of the trauma in the nine calves reported here and that infanticide occurs in bottlenose dolphins of the western North Atlantic.

Key Words: Hal icephalo bus; ho rses; Micron ern a; posth iti s.Halicephalobus in fectio n a pparen tly is a worldwi de ph enomeno n; it has been rep orted o n five co ntinents in seven diffe re nt co untries : the Un ited Sta tes , th e United Kingd om , Jap an , Egypt, Switzer land , Th e Neth er lands: and Co lo mbia.' Inflam mation o f the ce ntra l nervo us system is a co nsistent fea ture of Halicephaiobus infecti on in h uman bei ngs' an d is a lm ost a lwa ys in vol ved in eq uine in fecti on s." In a review of reported Halicephalobus infecti on in horses, the bra in was th e m ost co m monly in vo lved tissue, follow ed in descend ing order by th e kidne ys, o ra l a nd nasal ca vities, lym ph nod es, lu ngs, spina l co rd, a nd adrena l gla nd, with single rep orts o f hea rt , liver, sto mac h, ganglion, a nd bon e involvcm cnt. !" G ran ulom a tou s os teoa rt hr itis indu ced by II. deletrix has a lso been rep orted ."In Ja nu ar y 1990, a 5-year-o ld ma le Ara bia n showho rsc was exa mi ned by an Albuq uerq ue vete rinaria n becau se o f mu lti ple nod ules on th e exte rna l lam ina of th e prep uce. T he a nima l was nat ive to New Mexico. O ther horses in th e stable we re un affected . Antecedent tra uma had not bee n o bse rved by the ow ner. No d ule di a me ters were 0.5-1 cm , an d th e ski n was ulcera ted over the surfaces. No ot he r cli nica l signs were ev iden t. A bio psy was perfo rm ed , and th e spec ime n was exa mi ned by a patho logist with the New Mexico Depa rtment of Agricult ure . After a prelimina ry d iagnosis of cuta neo us hali cephalo biasis, th e ho rse was treated with ivermect in an d di eth ylcarbamazine. Th e rem a in ing nodules subse q ue ntly regressed. T he biop sy spec ime n was subm itte d to the Ar me d Fo rces In stitute of Pat hology for co nfir ma tio n of the d iagnosis.Hi st o logically, the dermi s was marked ly thi ckened by a d i ffuse gra n ulo ma to us in filt ra te th at di srupted dermal co llagen a nd exte nde d to the ulcerat ed surface. T he in filtra te co ns isted of a b unda nt mu lti n uclea ted gia nt cells, ma crophages, cos ino phils, nc utrop hi ls, and nodula r aggregates of lym ph ocytes a nd plasm a cells (F ig. I ). T hro ugh o ut the section , there were numerou s ad ults , la rvae, and developing eggs ofa nem at od e par asite. Ad ult fem a les, 20 Jlm at th eir grea tes t d iam et er, were ob ser ved . No ma les were seen. The parasite had a smoot h, th in cuticle ; a plat yrn yar ia n-rnerorn yar ian muscul at ure; a psc ud ococ lum ; a rh abditifo rm esophag us co mposed of a corpus , isthm us, a nd bul b (Fig . 2); a nd a n in testina l tract co m posed of single n uclea ted lo w cuboi da l ce lls. There was a single geni ta l tube con ta ini ng o nly one mat ure egg. T he ovary was do rso flcxcd, a nd the uterus was ve ntroflexed a t th e v ulva (Fig. 3). La rvae were up to 10 Jlm in d ia me ter and also had rha bd itifo rm eso phagi. Adults an d Fig. I. Prepuce; horse. A pleocellu lar gra n ulo ma to us reaction surro und...

Chord oma in human beings is an uncommon neopl asm arising from remnants o f the not ochord .' ? It has also been report ed in seve ral animal spec ies, including th e rat ,' 2.,. cat,' dog," m in k," and ferrc t. t-"'? In human being s, cho rdo mas arise pred om inantl y in the sacrococcygeal and sphenooccipita l areas ! In ferr ets, all repo rted cases have been seen at or near the ta il tip .1.6. ' 0 T he purpose of thi s pap er is to describe chordo mas arising in th e cervical spina l region of two ferrets.Case No. I was a 5-yea r-o ld male cas tra ted pet alb ino ferr et with a 4-mo nth history of atax ia in the hind legs th at progressed to pare sis and loss o f propriocepti on. Ov er thi s period, the animal experienced a 25% loss o f bod y weight. At necropsy, th e animal a ppea red mod erat ely cachectic, with m inimal subcutaneo us and intra-abdominal fat stores. Th ere was mild generalized mu scular atro phy, most prominent bilater ally over th e hind limbs. U po n disarticulation o f the atlantoocci pita l joint, a so ft, whitis h gray 1.5-x 1.0-cm amorpho us mass spa nni ng th e artic ular space and th at invo lved th e artic ular facets and exte nded into both the foramen ma gnum and th e verte bra l ca na l of C , and C, was noticed . Addi tiona l gro ss findings in th is ani ma l included moderat e right ventricular dil ati on , hepat ic co ngestion, and spondylosis of th e lumbar spine .Micro scopi c exa mi nation o f sections from th e cervi cal ar ea revealed an infiltrati ve, multilobul at ed ma ss replacing portions of th e vertebral bod y and lamina of C , (F ig. l ) and the ve ntral porti on of the occ ipita l bon e surro undi ng the foram en magnum. Lobules had three com ponents: closely packed vacuolat ed polygon al cells (physa lifero us cells), cartilage, an d bo ne. T he ph ysaliferou s cells were suppo rted by a mu cinou s stro ma o f variable thickness th at blended grad ually with mature carti lage and bone; th e bon e co ntai ned marrow eleme nts. The three co m po nents were frequently arra nged co nce ntr ically within neoplastic lobul es, with ph ysaliferous cells surrounding carti lage with a central core of bon e. Physaliferous cells co nta ined abundant am pho philic foam y cytoplasm and ro und to ova l nucl ei (Fig. 2). Mit oses were rar ely seen. At th e periphery ofl obules, ther e were sma ller, irr egularl y ro und cells with sca nt eos ino philic cyto plasm and simi lar nu clei. T he neopl asm mildl y co m presse d th e sp ina l cor d, and swo l-[en, eosinophilic axo na l rem na nts (spheroi ds) were presen t in sma ll numbers th rou ghout the ventral and lat eral fun iculi. Th e mat rix surro unding the ph ysaliferou s cells stai ned stro ngly for glycosa m inoglyca ns, indi cat ing its cartilagino us nature.Immunohi sto chemi call y, physaliferou s cells conta ined cytok eratin and vime ntin interm ed iat e filame nts but sho wed weak S-I00 prot ein and neu ron-specific eno lase reacti on s.Case No . 2 was a 4-year-old male sab le ferret that initia lly presented wi...

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