Postmortem examination of two 15- and 17-months-old lions with central nervous signs of ataxia and opisthotonus showed bone lesions and displacement of the cerebellum into the foramen magnum occipitalis. The bone lesions were histologically characterised by apposition of osseous and osteoid tissue. The lesions in the cerebellum consisted of hemorrhagic infarction, reduction of granular and Purkinje cells, and demyelinisation; in the spinal cord hydromyelia and demyclination were seen. The possible role of vitamin A deficiency is discussed.
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