Spastic syndrome in a Holstein bull: a histologic study

A 4-year-old Canadian holstein bull developed the spastic syndrome, an episodic but progressive disorder causing pelvic limb muscular spasms. A post-mortem study, including morphometry of skeletal muscles and teased peripheral nerve fibers of the pelvic limb, revealed mild type II skeletal muscle fiber atrophy and minimal, focal segmental demyelination with remyelination, and axonal degeneration in peripheral nerves. Such alterations are probably incidental or age-associated. Idiopathic muscular cramps is the most probable explanation of the clinical disease and is consistent with the absence of significant morphologic pathologic lesions.