Chord oma in human beings is an uncommon neopl asm arising from remnants o f the not ochord .' ? It has also been report ed in seve ral animal spec ies, including th e rat ,' 2.,. cat,' dog," m in k," and ferrc t. t-"'? In human being s, cho rdo mas arise pred om inantl y in the sacrococcygeal and sphenooccipita l areas ! In ferr ets, all repo rted cases have been seen at or near the ta il tip .1.6. ' 0 T he purpose of thi s pap er is to describe chordo mas arising in th e cervical spina l region of two ferrets.Case No. I was a 5-yea r-o ld male cas tra ted pet alb ino ferr et with a 4-mo nth history of atax ia in the hind legs th at progressed to pare sis and loss o f propriocepti on. Ov er thi s period, the animal experienced a 25% loss o f bod y weight. At necropsy, th e animal a ppea red mod erat ely cachectic, with m inimal subcutaneo us and intra-abdominal fat stores. Th ere was mild generalized mu scular atro phy, most prominent bilater ally over th e hind limbs. U po n disarticulation o f the atlantoocci pita l joint, a so ft, whitis h gray 1.5-x 1.0-cm amorpho us mass spa nni ng th e artic ular space and th at invo lved th e artic ular facets and exte nded into both the foramen ma gnum and th e verte bra l ca na l of C , and C, was noticed . Addi tiona l gro ss findings in th is ani ma l included moderat e right ventricular dil ati on , hepat ic co ngestion, and spondylosis of th e lumbar spine .Micro scopi c exa mi nation o f sections from th e cervi cal ar ea revealed an infiltrati ve, multilobul at ed ma ss replacing portions of th e vertebral bod y and lamina of C , (F ig. l ) and the ve ntral porti on of the occ ipita l bon e surro undi ng the foram en magnum. Lobules had three com ponents: closely packed vacuolat ed polygon al cells (physa lifero us cells), cartilage, an d bo ne. T he ph ysaliferou s cells were suppo rted by a mu cinou s stro ma o f variable thickness th at blended grad ually with mature carti lage and bone; th e bon e co ntai ned marrow eleme nts. The three co m po nents were frequently arra nged co nce ntr ically within neoplastic lobul es, with ph ysaliferous cells surrounding carti lage with a central core of bon e. Physaliferous cells co nta ined abundant am pho philic foam y cytoplasm and ro und to ova l nucl ei (Fig. 2). Mit oses were rar ely seen. At th e periphery ofl obules, ther e were sma ller, irr egularl y ro und cells with sca nt eos ino philic cyto plasm and simi lar nu clei. T he neopl asm mildl y co m presse d th e sp ina l cor d, and swo l-[en, eosinophilic axo na l rem na nts (spheroi ds) were presen t in sma ll numbers th rou ghout the ventral and lat eral fun iculi. Th e mat rix surro unding the ph ysaliferou s cells stai ned stro ngly for glycosa m inoglyca ns, indi cat ing its cartilagino us nature.Immunohi sto chemi call y, physaliferou s cells conta ined cytok eratin and vime ntin interm ed iat e filame nts but sho wed weak S-I00 prot ein and neu ron-specific eno lase reacti on s.Case No . 2 was a 4-year-old male sab le ferret that initia lly presented wi...

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1. Peer reviews help to ensure the accuracy of the study pathologist's findings and thereby improve the quality of the pathology data and increase confidence in the final interpretation of the pathology portion of a toxicologic study. Having a second skilled pathologist examine slides from a study is a particularly important feature considering the large number of tissues on some studies (we have some ongoing chronics with approximately 50,000 tissues per study), the relatively short time period in which microscopic examination must be completed (and Disadvantages of informal peer reviews:1. The process is not documented.2. The &dquo;peer review&dquo; person looking at the slides is like-

Vehicle control Harlan RCCHan™:WIST rats were examined to provide control data for subsequent studies. The rats (180 male and 180 female) were dosed daily via oral gavage with reverse osmosis water for up to 104 weeks. At necropsy, body weights and macroscopic findings were recorded and tissues were collected for histopathology. The mean body weight at terminal sacrifice was 687 g for males and 466 g for females. The overall survival rate was 62% for males and 59% for females. The most common cause of death for males and females found dead or examined following unscheduled euthanasia was pituitary neoplasia with an incidence of 13.9% for males and 18.9% for females. Macroscopic and neoplastic and nonneoplastic microscopic findings are presented by body system.

Data collected during 1984 from an active animal rabies surveillance system and human rabies post-exposure prophylaxis program at the US Naval Hospital, Subic Bay Naval Facility, Philippines revealed that potential rabies exposure, most commonly from dog bites or scratches, was reported for 311 US military and civilian personnel and four Filipino employees working on the facility. Seventy-nine persons (25 per cent) required complete post-exposure prophylaxis. Brain tissue from two captured dogs implicated in attacks was subsequently found to be positive for rabies antigen on fluorescent antibody testing.