Cerebellar cortical degeneration in beagle dogs.

Cerebellar disorders characterized by degeneration or loss of Purkinje cells have been reported in many In the dog, they have occurred in Airedales,' Gordon setters,*z4 rough coated collies,6 border collie^,^ beagle^,^ Sam~yeds ,~ and Irish setters.'O An 18-month-old female and a 9-month-old male were mated in our beagle colony. The female was purchased from Marshall Farms, North Rose, New York. The male was bred in our colony. Both had been on a complete vaccination program and were clinically normal. The dam delivered eight pups-three males and five females-on June 13, 1985. Two males and one female died within a day after birth. Of the remaining five pups, one male (case 1) and two females (cases 2 and 3) developed neurological signs first noted as frequent falling when the dogs became ambulatory at about 3 weeks of age. Signs slowly progressed without improvement until euthanasia at 14 weeks of age. The other two female littermates grew normally without neurological deficits. At necropsy, tissues were fixed in 10% phosphate buffered formalin. Cerebrum and brain stem were sectioned coronally; cerebellum was sectioned sagittally through the vermis and transversely through the left hemisphere. Tissues were embedded in paraffin, sectioned, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE). In the cerebellum, the following stains were also applied Bodian, lux01 fast blue (LFB), and, for ghal fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), an avidin-biotin immuno-