title: Primary intestinal and vertebral chordomas in laboratory zebrafish (Danio rerio).
abstract: Chordomas are uncommon neoplasms arising from notochord remnants, most commonly occurring in the axial skeleton. Extraskeletal soft tissue chordomas are rare primary tumors, and primary alimentary tract chordomas have not been reported. Herein we report 24 cases of spontaneous primary intestinal chordomas in zebrafish, as well as 9 spontaneous vertebral chordomas. Both intestinal and vertebral tumors showed invasive behavior, although more commonly in the latter. In all cases of primary intestinal chordomas, there was no axial or peripheral skeletal or other nonvisceral involvement. Although uncommon, intestinal chordomas represent a unique background lesion in aged zebrafish.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Comparative Medicine and Pathology, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, USA tcooper@hmc.psu.edu.
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.affiliation: Pathology and Health Services, Zebrafish International Resource Center, Eugene, OR, USA.
authors.forename: K N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: Pathology and Health Services, Zebrafish International Resource Center, Eugene, OR, USA Department of Environmental Health Sciences. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Spagnoli
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Spitsbergen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002817:Chordoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D007414:Intestinal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D013125:Spinal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D015027:Zebrafish
keywords: chordomas; intestinal; vertebral; zebrafish