Hereditary junctional mechanobullous disease in a foal
Frame, S.R.; Harrington, D.D.; Fessler, J.; Frame, P.F.
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 193(11): 1420-1424
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-1488 PMID: 3209456 Document Number: 317003
Mechanobullous disease was diagnosed in a male Belgian foal that had sloughed hooves at 30 h and at 6 and 12 days of age. Histological and electron microscopic studies showed that lesions were the result of separation of the basal epithelial cell layer from the lamina densa of the basement membrane zone along the lamina lucida. Results of immunofluorescence on tissue specimens were negative for immunoglobulin deposition. The breeding history of the foal's dam revealed that the foal was produced from breeding of the mare to its full sibling stallion. This same mare had produced a female foal, sired by a different stallion, which also had sloughed hooves during the first 2 weeks of life and had similar histological and electron microscopical changes. This newly recognized disease of horses most closely resembles junctional-type epidermolysis bullosa described in human beings.