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Abstract. Pheochromocytomas and ultimobranchial (C-cell) neoplasms were diagnosed at a high frequency in a family of Guernsey bulls. The incidence supported the hypothesis of autosomal dominant inheritance of the neoplasms. These two neoplasms also occur in man as multiple endocrine adenomatosis type 2, which has autosomal dominant inheritance.Pheochromocytomas and neoplasms of the ultimobranchial tissue (C-cells) occur in some human families as a consequence of an autosomal dominant gene [lo, 141. Both neoplasms have been described in cattle, but no genetic study has related the two [I, 2, 5 , 12, 13, 15, 16, 181. Materials and MethodsHealth records, post mortem findings, and pedigrees were available from 892 bulls culled from a single artificial insemination bull stud between 1950 and 1978. Included were 588 Holstein-Friesian, 122 Guernsey, 92 Jersey, 55 Ayrshire, and 35 Brown Swiss bulls. Gross and histological examination of thyroid glands and adrenal glands were done routinely, including multiple sections of the thyroid gland through the region of the ultimobranchial tissue, multiple sections through the adrenal glands, and sections of any grossly observable abnormality.Pedigrees of bulls affected with either ultimobranchial neoplasms or pheochromocytomas were studied to determine if the condition had a familial pattern of occurrence, and if so, the most likely mode of inheritance.

In a study of field material and a survey conducted by the authors, typical signs of colibacillosis of 6-to-12-week-old poults included sudden onset, listlessness, rales, and high mortality. Signs persisted for about 2 weeks and were often followed by a low incidence of lameness caused by Escherichia coli. Gross lesions included enlarged and congested spleens and livers, and dilated discolored black or purple duodenal loops. Microscopic lesions included splenic and hepatic congestion. In some birds (freshly killed and fixed immediately), the epithelium at the tips of the duodenal villi was sloughing, but in other birds the villi were intact and normal in appearance. Splenic enlargement, the presence of intranuclear splenic inclusions similar to those found in hemorrhagic enteritis (HE), and the isolation of HE virus from some of the field spleens all indicated that inapparent HE infection often occurs at approximately the same time as this type of colibacillosis. It is therefore believed that HE infection often exacerbates colibacillosis of older poults.

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