Pathologic features of naturally occurring juvenile polyarteritis in beagle dogs

Eighteen young Beagle dogs (eight males and 10 females), ages 6-40 months, with canine juvenile polyarteritis syndrome (CJPS), a naturally occurring vasculitis and perivasculitis of unknown etiology, were necropsied, and their tissues were examined by histopathologic and histochemical methods. The condition is characterized by recurring episodes of an acute onset of fever (> 40 C) and neck pain that persist for 3-7 days. The major histopathologic alterations were a systemic vasculitis and perivasculitis. During the febrile, painful period of CJPS, the vascular lesions ranged from a histiocytic-lymphocytic periarterial infiltration to transmural arterial inflammation with concomitant fibrinoid necrosis and vascular thrombosis. Massive periarterial accumulations of inflammatory cells were common and often extended into adjacent tissues. The small- to medium-sized muscular arteries of the heart, cranial mediastinum, and cervical spinal meninges were consistently involved. Vasculitis occasionally occurred in other organ systems. The vascular lesions in dogs examined during clinically normal periods consisted of intimal and medial fibrosis, ruptured elastic laminae, and mild perivasculitis; these lesions were probably related to previous episodes of vasculitis. Eight dogs that had experienced repeated acute episodes also developed splenic, hepatic, and renal amyloidosis. The clinical signs, laboratory abnormalities, and the vascular lesions suggest that the condition may be immune-system mediated. CJPS may serve as a naturally occurring animal model of human immune-system-mediated vasculitides such as polyarteritis nodosa, infantile polyarteritis, and Kawasaki disease.