Clinical, pathological, immunohistochemical and molecular characterization of feline chronic gingivostomatitis

Abstract

Objectives This study presents the clinical, pathological, immunohistochemical and molecular characterization of 26 cats with feline chronic gingivostomatitis (FCG). Methods Oral mucosal biopsies, blood and swabs were collected from cats presenting with oral lesions. The tissue sections were submitted for histopathology and immunohistochemical analysis for feline calicivirus (FCV), feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). The swabs were subjected to PCR analysis for FCV, and blood for FeLV and FIV. Results The main clinical findings were dysphagia (88.2%), halitosis (76.5%), sialorrhea (47.1%), weight loss (41.2%), intense oral discomfort (35.3%), oral hemorrhage (17.6%), and lackluster and fragile coat (11.8%). Gross inspection revealed bilateral lesions across the palatoglossal fold to the lateral tongue base. The lesions were diffuse, proliferative, intensely red and friable, and bled easily upon examination in 80.8% of cases. In 23.1% of cases, the lesions were multifocal to coalescent, at times forming multiple vesicles on a reddened, edematous palatoglossal fold. Microscopic examination showed that 15.4% of lesions had moderate (grade 2) and 84.6% had severe (grade 3) inflammation. Immunohistochemistry revealed the presence of FeLV antigens in the epithelium and the inflammatory infiltrate of 30.8% of the cats with FCG. FCV antigens were not detected in the FCG lesions. Conclusions and relevance The FCG cases analyzed could not be correlated with FCV. It is possible that FeLV plays a role as a causal agent of lesions in cases where the presence of the virus has been confirmed by immunohistochemistry in epithelial samples.

Feline Lymphoplasmacytic Gingivostomatitis: Clinical and Anatomopathological Aspects

“…The Siamese race is commonly mentioned as one of the most affected, but Persian, Abyssinian, Himalayan and Burmese races are also frequently compromised. The average age of animals is of 8 to 8.8 years, varying between 3 and 15 years [2,9,10,11]. The epidemiological data corroborates with the present report, especially when referring to gender and age.…”

“…The affected animals exhibit varying degrees of inflammatory lesion, usually showing worsening with the evolution of the disease [7] and causing ulceration and/or proliferation of the local epithelium. Clinical signs consist of halitosis, anorexia, inappetence, dysphagia, selective appetite, variable degree of algia, weight loss, dehydration, ptyalism, with eventual associated hemorrhage, chewing of face, reduction of toilet habits and, sometimes, exteriorization of tongue [1,2,[5][6][7][9][10][11]. Macroscopic lesions tend to be multifocal to diffuse, not limited to a single mass [5], being bilateral and symmetrical, eventually presenting hemorrhagic areas.…”

“…Gingiostomatitis are common pathologies for feline clinic routine [1,2,5,9,10], referred as the second most frequent oral disease in the species, shortly after periodontal disease, with special relevance for FLPG [1,9]. It is an idiopathic disease and is believed to be multifactorial [8,[10][11][12]14].…”

“…Gingiostomatitis are common pathologies for feline clinic routine [1,2,5,9,10], referred as the second most frequent oral disease in the species, shortly after periodontal disease, with special relevance for FLPG [1,9]. It is an idiopathic disease and is believed to be multifactorial [8,[10][11][12]14]. The disease presents aggressive behavior [5], characterized by intense inflammation, erythema, ulceration areas and gingival hyperplasia [1,2,5,7,11], eventually reaching glossopalatine arches (isthmus of the fauces), palate, and bucal mucosa [2,5,7,11,12,14].…”

Osteochondroma in a young cat infected by feline leukemia virus

“…Reaction was revealed with permanent red (DAKO ® ) and counter stained with Harris hematoxylin (DAKO ® ). In both tests positive and negative controls that had been previously tested were inserted (ROLIM et al, 2016).…”