Fibrinoid leukodystrophy (Alexander's disease-like disorder) in a young adult French bulldog.

The paper describes clinical and pathological features of Alexander's disease (AD)-like disorder in a 1 year and 8 months old French bulldog. Clinically, the dog exhibited megaesophagus, emaciation and weakness without any specific neurological symptoms. The dog died of aspiration pneumonia. On the gross observation of formalin-fixed brain, discolored foci were observed in the white matter of the cerebellum and brain stem. Histologically, numerous Rothenthal fibers and hypertrophic astrocytes were distributed especially in the perivascular, subependymal and subpial area of both the cerebrum and cerebellum. The Rosenthal fibers were intensely immunopositive for GFAP and ubiquitin. Demyelination of the white matter was occasionally found in the brain stem. The present case is likely to be categorized in the adult form of AD, though previous AD-like cases in dogs were in the juvenile form.