Histopathological pattern of gonads in cases of sex abnormalities in dogs: An attempt of morphological evaluation involving potential for neoplasia

Abstract

Disturbances in sex differentiation (DSD - disorder of sexual development) may result from disturbances in sex chromosomes or a disturbed development of gonads, or from genotypic disturbances. The objective of this article is to describe the histological structure of gonads in dogs showing sexual disturbances and a case of a cancer resembling gonadoblastoma in one of the animals. Among the 10 examined dogs with disturbances of sex development only a single case of a gonadoblastoma was observed. In animals with sex disturbances, similarly to humans, there exists a potential tendency for neoplastic lesions in dysgenetic gonads. As a rule, its frequency in population is confined due to the early procedure of castration of non-breeding dogs. In the present study dogs demonstrated phenotypical traits of bitches with developmental anomalies such as hyperplastic clitoris with vestigial os penis (baculum), or abnormalities in the location and structure of the vulva. The material for the study included canine gonads of various breeds, sampled from phenotypical bitches, aged 7 months to 4 years - patients of the Department of Reproduction and Clinic of Farm Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wroclaw (Poland) in years 2006-2013. The organs were surgically removed from the abdomen and sent for histopathological examination for the purpose of determining their histological structure. The 10 examined cases of altered gonads included 6 bilateral cases of testes (60%), 2 cases of bilateral ovotestis (20%), one case of co-manifestation of testis and ovotestis (10%), and a single case of a testis and a neoplastically altered gonad (gonadoblastoma) (10%).

Keywords: Disturbances in sex differentiation; Dog; Dysgenetic gonads; Tumors.