Villous hypoplasia of the small intestine in neonatal foals.
To elucidate the pathomorphogenesis of extremely shortened small-intestinal villi, occurring spontaneously in neonatal foals, the morphology of the small intestine with stunted villi was studied in eight cases. All intestinal wall elements and the villi were poorly developed. Most villi were found to be extremely short throughout the entire length of the small intestine. The villous core consisted of undifferentiated, fibroblast-like cells held loosely together by ground substance which was rich in glycosaminoglycan. Development of the villous lamina propria was poor with respect to capillaries, lymphatic vessels, connective tissues and smooth muscle cells. When compared with the structure of small-intestinal villi in age-matched foals as controls, it appeared that the histological structure of the stunted villous interstitium had remained at the immature state observable during the intrauterine period. Hypoplasia of the intestinal villi was assumed to reduce the functional surface area available for absorption of colostrum, causing malabsorption in newborn foals.
Oikawa
M
M
Pathology Division, Equine Research Institute, Japan Racing Association, Tokyo.
Kaneko
M
M
Yoshikawa
T
T
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D005260:Female; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D006736:Horses; D007410:Intestinal Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008871:Microvilli / Q000473:pathology