Abstract
Several diseases characterized by dysfunction of the central nervous system with significant involvement of the spinal cord have been documented in the bovine species. This report describes a spontaneously occurring degenerative spinal cord condition in two 4-year-old Holstein-Friesian dairy cows derived from different farms. The animals presented with anteparturient or postparturient onset of clinical signs encompassing hind limb ataxia, paresis, and recumbency. Both cows were euthanatized 2 days after the onset of clinical signs. Histopathology of the spinal cord in the two cows revealed bilaterally symmetrical degeneration of the white matter that was characterized primarily by Wallerian-type changes of myelinated axons with associated myelin sheath degradation and hypertrophy of astrocytes. These lesions were most marked in the ventral and lateral corticospinal tracts of the middle to caudal thoracic cord segments. Neurons in the dorsal and ventral gray horns were unremarkable. Although its etiology remains unknown, this degenerative myelopathy is possibly a new variant of neurodegenerative disorder compatible with a central distal axonopathy.
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