Holoprosencephaly associated with synophthalmia and arrhinia in feline (Felis catus): a case report

The aim of this study was to describe the macroscopic and histological lesions observed in domestic newborn felines with facial lesions characterized by holoprosencephaly associated with synophthalmia and arhinia. A feline with multiple craniofacial congenital anomalies was necropsied, and the brain was collected, followed by photodocumentation and histopathological processing with H&E. The diagnosis of alobar holoprosencephaly with grade (I) morphological lesions of the face was made through the anatomopathological changes observed during the clinical and necroscopic examination, characterized by deformation of the cerebral hemispheres, shown failure in the forebrain vesicle development, located in the cranial neural tube part, associated with craniofacial dysmorphisms. In the microscopic study of the CNS, lesions characterized by abnormal lamination of the cerebral hemisphere's outermost cell layers and multiple areas of vacuolization of the cortex and in the cerebellum low cell density of the granular layer, with the presence of large intracytoplasmic vacuoles and absence of Purkinje cells were observed. It was not possible to determine the deformation cause, since laboratory tests were not performed, as well as the association with the FeLV virus.