The progressive development of the hepatic lesions which occurred in an alfalfa hay-induced photosensitivity disease of cattle was studied by means of multiple liver biopsies from 20 animals and by necropsy of 7 animals killed at different stages of the disease.
Lesions of visceral organs were confined to the liver and biliary system. The hepatic lesions were characterized by a diffuse, acutely developing cholangitis and pericholangitis leading to occlusion of the small ducts. The chief sites of involvement were interlobular ducts of small and medium size. Subsequent proliferation of bile ducts and connective tissue in the portal tracts occurred in proportion to the intensity and duration of the cholangitis, but was never extreme. The toxin causing these lesions is unknown, but since they are confined almost exclusively to the biliary tract it can be speculated that it is concentrated and excreted via biliary secretion without being adequately detoxified in the liver.
The hepatic lesions of the alfalfa hay-induced disease in catle are strikingly similar to those observed in “facial eczema” of sheep. There is little similarity of the lesions to those observed in the other major hepatogenous photosensitivity diseases.
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