Abstract
Much attention has been focused for a few years on the study of haemolytic disease of newborn pigs which is an acute haemolytic anemia acquired as a result of maternal antibodies against red blood cell antigen gaining access to the circulation of the offspring possessing these antigens after birth.
Goodwin et al published a few reports on the disease of newborn pigs, and in one of the reports they descrived the histological changes in the liver, spleen and kidney of pigs died by the haemolytic disease. The findings they obtained are summarized as follows:
In some of the animals that died, severe and widespread focal necrosis of the liver, together with degeneration and necrosis in the kidney, were marked. Pigment deposits and erythrophagocytosis common in nearly all organs, but abnormally extramedullary erythropoiesis was not observed.
We have been studying serologically the haemolytic disease of piglets and have published a few reports. The following results are the histologicalfindings we have obtained on the organs of newborn pigs died within 15 hours after birth by the disease at the Livestock Division of Kyushu Agricultural Experiment Station.
Liver: Considerable dilution of sinusoid and congestion were noticeable in all cases. In some samples, bile-pigent deposits were evident in the liver cells. In the control, although the development of interlobular connective tissue was very poor, congestion was not found in the liver.
Kidney: The epitherial cells of convoluted tubules were swollen and the tubular space was packed with particles of hyaline materials. Nuclear pycnosis and hyaline degeneration were appeared in the convoluted tubules.
Spleen: Severe congestion was found. However, haemosiderin deposit in the cells was not apparent in every case.
