Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid in healthy rabbits and rabbits with clinically suspected encephalitozoonosis
- A. Jass, DrMedVet, MRCVS1,
- K. Matiasek, DrMedVet2,
- J. Henke, DrMedVet3,
- H. Küchenhoff, DrStat4,
- K. Hartmann, DrMedVet, DipECVIM-CA1 and
- A. Fischer, DrMedVet, DipECVN, DipACVIM1
- 1 Clinic of Small Animal Medicine
- 2 Department of General Pathology and Neuropathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Veterinaerstrasse 13, 80539 Munich, Germany
- 3 Centre of Preclinical Research, Ismaningerstrasse 22, 81675 Munich, Germany
- 4 Institute for Statistics, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Ludwigstrasse 33, 80539 Munich, Germany
- Correspondence to Dr Fischer
Abstract
Samples of uncontaminated cerebrospinal fluid (csf) were collected from the cisterna magna of 20 healthy laboratory rabbits and 21 pet rabbits with vestibular disease and/or paresis due to clinically suspected encephalitozoonosis. In the healthy rabbits' csf the leucocyte count was ≤4 leucocytes/μl (median 1·5 μl) and the concentration of protein ranged from 0·13 to 0·31 g/l (median 0·24 g/l). In the diseased rabbits, the number of leucocytes ranged from 1 to 87/μl (median 15/μl; P<0·001), and the concentration of protein ranged from 0·31 to 1·54 g/l (median 0·79 g/l; P<0·001); a cytological evaluation showed that they had greater numbers of lymphocytes and monocytes. It was concluded that encephalitozoonosis in rabbits is characterised by lymphomonocytic pleocytosis in csf.
- British Veterinary Association. All rights reserved.
