Abstract
A seven-year-two-month-old male reindeer showed soft feces for several days, and suddenly died at a zoo in Chiba Prefecture in July 2003. Macroscopically, the liver was dark brown. Histopathologically, small necrotic foci were accompanied by degenerated neutrophils in the liver, and many Kupffer cells contained abundant hemosiderin. In addition, numerous copper stain-positive granules and small vacuoles were prominent in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes. The copper contents in liver, kidney and blood were 266.6 ppm, 21.7 ppm and 197.75μg/dl, respectively. These levels were apparently higher than those in the healthy reindeer and/or sheep. This reindeer was diagnosed as a case of copper poisoning.
