Abstract
Histopathological studies were performed on a series of 18 spontaneous cases of atrophic rhinitis (38-160 days of age) showing markedly retarded growth. Along with various degrees of nasal turbinate lesions, definite chondrolytic and necrotizing changes (epiphyseal osteochondropathy) were noted in the matrix of the epiphyseal cartilage all over the body (the costochondral junction, the proximal end of the femur and the mandibular incisor junction). In other organs, interstitial myocarditis, membranous and proliferative glomerulonephritis and extramedullary hematopoiesis were frequently found. In the tubuloalveolar glandular epithelium of the nasal mucosa of 6 young pigs, the formation of cytomegalic intranuclear inclusion bodies was noted. These morphological findings are probably important in the pathogenesis of the growth disturbance. It is considered that some alterable stimulus may have been responsible for the generalized disturbance of osteogenesis.
