Pathology and causes of death in captive meerkats (Suricata suricatta)

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary of immunohistochemical methodology.

Antibody	Source	Host	Type	Clone	Antigen Retrieval	Dilution
AE1/AE3	Dako	Mouse	Monoclonal	AE1 y AE3	Citrate buffer	1:100
Vimentin	Dako	Mouse	Monoclonal	V9	Citrate buffer	1:100
TTF1	Abcam	Rabbit	Monoclonal	SP141	Tris-EDTA buffer	1:100
COX-2	ThermoFisher	Mouse	Monoclonal	SP21	Citrate buffer	1:50
EGFR	ThermoFisher	Mouse	Monoclonal	MA5-13070	Citrate buffer	1:100
Ki67	Dako	Mouse	Monoclonal	MIB-1	Citrate buffer	1:200
PD1	Abcam	Rabbit	Monoclonal	EPR20665	Tris-EDTA buffer	1:500
PD-L1	ThermoFisher	Rabbit	Monoclonal	JJ08-95	Tris-EDTA buffer	1:100
SOX-9	Sigma	Rabbit	Polyclonal	HPA001758	Citrate buffer	1:200

Table 2. Summary of clinical signs, pathological findings and causes of death for the 8 meerkats in captivity.

Case	Sex	Age (years)	Body weight (kg)/Body condition	Clinical history	Macroscopic findings	Histopathological findings	Cause of death/euthanasia
1	Male	6	1.005/Normal-Good	Sudden death	Plastic duodenal foreign body, hemoabdomen, peritonitis	Fibrinonecrotizing and haemorrhagic enteritis	Natural death Intestinal perforation, peritonitis and septic shock
2	Male	4	0.873/Normal-Good	Seizures	Lung consolidation, hepatopathy, hemoabdomen	Verminous granulomatous pneumonia, lymphoplasmacytic meningitis and myocarditis	Euthanasia Multifactorial: verminous pneumonia, meningitis and myocarditis.
3	Male	10	1.050/Normal-Good	Sudden death	Subcutaneous edema, systemic yellow nodules, hepatopathy, hydrothorax, ascites, hydrocephalus, myocardial necrosis, splenic nodular hyperplasia, pulmonary white nodules	Systemic cholesterol granulomas, hepatic lipidosis, myocardial necrosis with auricular thrombosis, splenic lymphoid hyperplasia, bronchoalveolar adenomas, glomerulosclerosis	Natural death Systemic atherosclerosis
4	Female	8	0.690/Poor	Head tilt, ataxia, depression, paraparesis	Poor body condition, dental disease, spondylosis, liver and lung congestion, pulmonary white nodule	Multifocal mineralisation and fibrosis of the stomach (tunica muscularis), bronchoalveolar adenoma	Euthanasia on welfare grounds
5	Male	Unknown	0.835/Normal-Good	Sudden death	Penetrating cutaneous wounds, subcutaneous haematoma, haemothorax, pulmonary rupture	Pulmonary haemorrhages with atelectasis, pleuritis, hepatic centrilobular necrosis	Natural death Hypovolemic shock with respiratory insufficiency
6	Male	Unknown	0.770/Normal-Good	Collapsed after con-specific attack	Penetrated cutaneous wounds, chronic dermatitis, gastric trichobezoar	Suppurative chronic dermatitis with intralesional bacteria, hepatic lipidosis; pulmonary congestion, subpleural emphysema, mineralization of choroid plexuses	Euthanasia on welfare grounds
7	Male	2	0.717/Poor	Collapsed after con-specific attack	Poor body condition, sunken eyes, muscle atrophy, gastric trichophytobezoar, empty intestinal tract	Pulmonary atelectasis, hepatic lipidosis	Natural death Starvation
8	Male	8	0.930/Normal-Good	Vomiting, lethargy, cervical mass	Plastic esophageal foreign body, pulmonary yellow nodule, hepatopathy	Focal esophageal erosion, focal pulmonary cholesterol granuloma	Euthanasia on welfare grounds

Figure 1. Case 6. The dorsum and tail exhibit locally extensive area of chronic dermatitis with alopecia, crusting, hyperkeratosis and multifocal erosions and ulcers. Bar = 1 cm.

Figure 2. Case 1. Focally extensive peritoneal hemorrhage (arrows) as a result of a foreign body-induced duodenal perforation. Bar = 1 cm.

Figure 3. Case 3. The short gastric arteries are expanded by multifocal pale-yellow (atheromatous) plaques (arrows).

Figure 4. Case 3. The heart exhibits tortuous, yellow, stripes (arrows) that correspond with atheromatous branches of the coronary arteries, and pale areas of myocardium that correspond with areas of degeneration (asterisks).

Figure 5. Case 3. The tunica media of a coronary artery is expanded by a mineralized atheromatous plaque (asterisk). The atheromatous plaque compresses a segment of the bundle of His (arrows). Bar = 50 µm.

Figure 6. Case 3. Glomerulosclerosis. Glomerular capillaries are markedly thickened and degenerated. The Bowman’s capsule is also markedly thickened (asterisk). Bar = 20 µm.

Figure 7. Case 2. The myocardium is infiltrated by lymphocytes, plasma cells and neutrophils (arrows). Bar = 20 µm.

Figure 8. Case 3. Cholesterol granulomas expand the choroid plexus and compress the lateral ventricles and surrounding parenchyma. The third ventricle is dilated. Bar = 3 mm.

Figure 9. Case 3. A multinodular cholesterol granuloma compresses the lateral ventricles. The third ventricle is markedly dilated (asterisk). Inset: There is, hypercellularity, rarefaction and vacuolation of the neuropil (degeneration) and rare hemosiderin-laden macrophages (chronic haemorrhage). Bar = 3 mm.

Figure 10. Case 8. Focal pulmonary cholesterol granuloma. Bars = 1 cm.

Figure 11. Case 2. Granulomatous pneumonia. The right caudal lung lobe is diffusely dark red, firm and enlarged (arrows). Bar = 1 cm.

Figure 12. Case 3. Pulmonary adenomas. The right lung exhibits multifocal, white, firm, round nodules that rise the pleura. Bar = 1 cm.

Figure 13. Case 2. Granulomatous pneumonia. The lung is locally extensively expanded by a pyogranulomatous inflammatory exudate (consolidation). Inset: A nematode larvae is surrounded by macrophages, eosinophils, lymphocytes, and plasma cells. There is marked pneumocyte type II hypertrophy. Bar = 1 mm.

Figure 14. Case 3. Pulmonary adenomas. The lung parenchyma is expanded by variably sized well-demarcated epithelial neoplasms that compress the surrounding alveolar spaces. Inset: The neoplasms consist of clear cuboidal cells with defined margins and a single polarized nucleus. Cellular atypia is minimal. Bar = 1 mm.

Figure 15. Case 3. The pulmonary adenoma was diffusely positive for multicytokeratin immunohistochemistry. Bar = 50 µm.

Figure 16. Case 3. The pulmonary adenoma was diffusely positive for TTF-1 immunohistochemistry. Bar = 50 µm.