Original scientific paper

Fatty liver and subcutaneous edema in a free-living bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus, Montagu 1821) from the Adriatic Sea; light- and electron-microscopical study.

Hrvoje Gomerčić ; Electron-microscopical Laboratory, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Đuro Huber ; Department of Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Vera Gomerčić ; Histological Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Pliva Research Institute, Zagreb, Croatia
Snježana Vuković ; Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Darinka Škrtić ; Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Tomislav Gomerčić ; Department of Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Vesna Dobranić ; Electron-microscopical Laboratory, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Hrvoje Lucić ; Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Martina Đuras ; Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Snježana Ćurković ; Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Ana Gomerčić ; Department of Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Ljerka Kardoš ; Electron-microscopical Laboratory, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Research was carried out on a 21-year-old, 288 cm-long free-living grand multigravida female bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus, Montagu 1821) with mass of 214 kg. The animal died on 8 October 1997 in the Adriatic Sea, near Šibenik, Croatia. Prior to death she showed some neurological symptoms. For control and comparison we used the carcasses and tissues of two presumably clinically healthy dolphins. Autopsy showed massive edema in the subcutaneous tissues (between blubber and musculature) on the dorsal side of the body of the diseased subject. The fluid in intercellular tissue spaces was clear and light-yellowish. Larger amounts of the same fluid were found in serous sacs of the animal, as well as slight brain edema. The most prominent structural change was found in the liver, which wasnormal in size but extremely yellow and fragile. Its structure was totally destroyed, without any traces of blood, and there was pronounced fatty degeneration of liver parenchyma. All hepatocytes were also destroyed and swollen mitochondria and dilated endoplasmic reticulum were evident. This massive hepatic degeneration and necrosis was probably due to some unknown acute biological or chemical agent that provoked hepatargic crisis and the ultimate death of this free-living female dolphin.

Keywords

dolphin; bottlenose dolphin; Tursiops truncatus; fatty liver; subcutaneous edema; light-microscopy; electron-microscopy; histochemistry; Adriatic Sea

Hrčak ID:

101070

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/101070

Publication date:

21.10.2000.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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