DYSTROPHIC PROCESSES IN ORGANS AND TISSUES OF SAIGA CALVES IN CASE OF EXHAUSTION

Abstract

This paper describes the pathanatomical picture in organs and tissues of emaciated saiga calves that fell during mass calving of their mothers in Janybek district, West Kazakhstan region. Pathanatomical changes in emaciated saigas were characteristic of alimentary dystrophy (emaciation, cachexia), accompanied by various metabolic disorders, enzymopathy, the development of protein dystrophy, and atrophic processes in organs. Young saigas developed progressive emaciation, dehydration, and a lack of fat in the subcutaneous tissue, pericardium, and mesentery. Visible mucous and serous membranes were dry and anemic. Curvature of the spine in the lumbar region, rickets, and damage to deciduous teeth were detected. Atrophic processes were found in all internal organs: liver, kidneys, and spleen. The color varied from light red to brown. The liver is reduced in volume and dark brown in color; the edges of the liver are pointed; the consistency is flabby; and brown atrophy of the liver is observed. Spleen reduced in size, color purplereddish, capsule shriveled, soft consistency on section, scraping is insignificant. Whitish overgrowths of connective tissue are seen under the capsule; the pericardium lacks fat; the coronary vessels are translucent; and the myocardium is flabby and light brown in color. There is no peri-renal fat in thekidney, the kidneys are reduced in size and flabby, the capsule is easily removed, and the color of the kidneys is light brownish. On section, the boundaries of the organ are smoothed, the cortical layer is thin, and the renal vessels are empty. In saigas under one year of age, nematodes were found in the gastrointestinal tract in isolated numbers, and in other young animals, the lungs were inflamed with severe catarrhal inflammation and bronchopneumonia due to decreased general body resistance. In severe pneumonia, the tissue consistency of the lung is compacted, the pleura is tense, and turbid exudate flows from the cut surface. In catarrhal bronchopneumonia, the lung areas are red and thickened, with cloudy fluid flowing from the incision surface and a thick, mucus-like exudate from the bronchi. In one saiga head, a brain autopsy revealed a diagnosis of cerebral cenurosis, with single, oval, and elongated cenuroses up to 3–4 cm in length in the left hemisphere, injection of blood capillaries in the brain, atrophied connective tissue in the areas where the parasite was found, and congestion in the bottom of the eye.