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The domestic cat is the one of the most popular pets throughout the world. A by-product of owning, interacting with, or being in a household with a cat is the transfer of shed fur to clothing or personal objects. As trace evidence, transferred cat fur is a relatively untapped resource for forensic scientists. Both phenotypic and genotypic characteristics can be obtained from cat fur, but databases for neither aspect exist. Because cats incessantly groom, cat fur may have nucleated cells, not only in the hair bulb, but also as epithelial cells on the hair shaft deposited during the grooming process, thereby generally providing material for DNA profiling. To effectively exploit cat hair as a resource, representative databases must be established. This study evaluates 402 bp of the mtDNA control region (CR) from 1,394 cats, including cats from 25 distinct worldwide populations and 26 breeds. Eighty-three percent of the cats are represented by 12 major mitotypes. An additional 8.0% are clearly derived from the major mitotypes. Unique sequences were found in 7.5% of the cats. The overall genetic diversity for this data set was 0.8813 ± 0.0046 with a random match probability of 11.8%. This region of the cat mtDNA has discriminatory power suitable for forensic application worldwide.

The aim of this study was to characterize the phenotype of leukocytes infiltrating the duodenal mucosa of cats with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by using immunohistochemistry and computer-aided morphometry to assess whether immunologic markers would aid in characterization of IBD. Frozen and formalin-fixed duodenal biopsies were collected from cats referred for investigation of chronic vomiting, diarrhea, or both (n ϭ 34). Reference ranges were previously established by using duodenal samples from healthy cats (n ϭ 16). No significant difference was found in the number of immunoglobulin G ϩ (IgG ϩ ) or IgA ϩ in either the villous lamina propria or the crypt lamina propria between cats with IBD and control cats. T cells (CD3 ϩ ) increased in number from crypt to the tip of the villi in biopsies from both diseased (mean Ϯ SD for each group was 18.8 Ϯ 6.6 and 17.7 Ϯ 4.2 cells/ 10,000m 2 in cryptal areas to 25.2 Ϯ 9.5 and 29.1 Ϯ 13.3 cells/10,000m 2 in villous areas) and healthy animals (17.9 Ϯ 3.9 cells/10,000m 2 in cryptal areas to 24.1 Ϯ 9.3 cells/10,000m 2 in villous areas) and no significant difference was found between diseased and control cats. By contrast, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II expression by leukocytes with dendritic cell or macrophage morphology in the lamina propria was significantly greater in cats with IBD (13.3 Ϯ 4.2 cells/10,000m 2 in cryptal area; P ϭ .016) than in healthy cats (11.9 Ϯ 3.0 cells/10,000m2 ) and MHC class II expression by enterocytes also was more pronounced in these cats showing an overall intensity of expression of 7.1 Ϯ 4.0 cells/10,000m 2 in cats with IBD as opposed to 0.0 Ϯ 0.0 cells/10,000m 2 to 0.3 Ϯ 0.7 cells/10,000m 2 in healthy cats. These findings suggest that a subtle immunologic dysregulation occurs in spontaneously arising feline IBD.Key words: Immunohistochemistry; Leukocyte subsets; Major histocompatibility complex class II; Plasma cells; T cells. Idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) represents a group of disorders characterized by persistent clinical signs of gastrointestinal tract disease associated with histologic evidence of inflammation of undetermined cause in the lamina propria of the small or large intestine. The underlying etiopathogenesis of this inflammation remains unclear. Possible contributory factors may include genetic factors, infectious agents including bacteria and parasites, allergy (dietary), and immunologic dysregulation. Inflammatory bowel disease is recognized as one of the most common histologic diagnoses in dogs and cats with chronic gastrointestinal signs.2,3 The syndrome is often classified histologically by the nature of the inflammatory infiltrate. Lymphocytic-plasmacytic, eosinophilic, and granulomatous inflammation may occur as an overlapping spectrum in IBD.Several studies of IBD in the cat, dog, and, recently, horse have been reported previously.4-12 All of these reports focused primarily on the clinical features, and diagnosis was based on evaluation of hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained sections of...

-Diseases that are associated with infections or allergic reactions in the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts are major causes of morbidity in both cats and dogs. Future strategies for the control of these conditions require a greater understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the induction and regulation of responses at the mucosal surfaces. Historically, the majority of the fundamental studies have been carried out in rodents or with tissues obtained from man, but the expanding range of reagents available for the study of farm and companion animals provides opportunities for study in a wider range of animals including cats and dogs. To date, these studies have tended to be focussed on characterising the cellular distributions in healthy animals and in groups of cats and dogs identified as having an increased risk of mucosal disturbance. Where species comparisons of mucosal immune systems have been made, the results have tended to be divided between monogastric and ruminant animals. It is then not surprising that the mucosal immune systems of both cats and dogs bear greatest similarity to that documented for man and pigs.