A leukomyeloencephalopathy of unknown origin in an Azawakh dog

A diffuse bilaterally symmetrical leukomyeloencephalopathy was observed in a 6-year-old male Azawakh dog showing a slowly progressive ataxia of six months duration associated with sensory disorders. Severe bilaterally symmetrical demyelination and vacuolisation were confined to the dorsal columns along the entire spinal cord with a minor axonal degeneration. The main changes of myelin sheaths consisted in splitting and intramyelin vacuolization. Naked axons were scattered in a network of astrocytic processes and collagen fibres. Few reactive macrophages exhibiting a foamy pattern were observed adjacent to the small vessels. In the brain, cuneatus nuclei showed a number of atrophic neurons. A spongy change was observed in the raphe nuclei, spinal tract and nuclei of trigeminal nerve, and caudal cerebellar peduncles. Lesions there were neither in the spinal and trigeminal nerves, nor in the spinal ganglia. Although in the absence of a pedigree analysis support an inherited cause cannot be completely excluded.