Pathology of Bone Cells in Pigs with Experimental Turbinate Osteoporosis (Bordetella rhinitis)

Abstract

Atrophic rhinitis in swine is a disease of uncertain etiology and is characterized by deformity and reduction in volume of the nasal turbinates. Previous investigations in our laboratory indicated that the fundamental lesion responsible for the localized osteoporotic lesion in the nasal turbinates of pigs with the naturally occurring and experimentally induced disease was reduced bone formation. The experimental disease was produced by inoculating pigs with a pooled suspension of mascerated nasal turbinates obtained from pigs with the naturally occurring disease. Although a number of factors have been suggested as the cause of porcine atrophic rhinitis, there now is considerable evidence that Bordetella bronchiseptica is a major cause of this disease. Bordella bronchiseptica consistently produces atrophy of the nasal turbinates when inoculated intranasally in young pigs and can be isolated from a large number of swine with clinical signs and lesions characteristic of atrophic rhinitis.