• DOI:10.1111/jfd.12553
• Corpus ID: 40916559

Ovarian teratoma in an adult female Zoogoneticus tequila (Webb & Miller 1998): histological and immunohistochemical features.

@article{Romanucci2017OvarianTI,
  title={Ovarian teratoma in an adult female Zoogoneticus tequila (Webb \& Miller 1998): histological and immunohistochemical features.},
  author={Mariarita Romanucci and Alessio Arbuatti and Marcella Massimini and Sabrina Vanessa Patrizia Defourny and Leonardo Della Salda},
  journal={Journal of fish diseases},
  year={2017},
  volume={40 6},
  pages={
          859-862
        }
}

• M. Romanucci, A. Arbuatti, +2 authors L. Della Salda
• Published 1 June 2017
• Biology
• Journal of fish diseases

The Mexican Goodeid, Zoogoneticus tequila (Webb & Miller 1998), is considered nearly extinct in the wild, and it is maintained in captivity by the non-profit international ‘Goodeid Working Group’ represented by zoological institutions and aquarists in North America, Mexico and Europe. The unique, currently existing Italian colony was founded in 2007 by one of the authors (Arbuatti, Della Salda & Romanucci 2013), and it has produced about 240 fish so far. Information concerning the anatomy and biology of Z. tequila is extremely limited (Webb & Miller 1998; De La Vega-Salazar, Avila-Luna & Mac ıas-Garcia 2003). A single pathology survey on the unique Italian colony was also previously published by the authors (Arbuatti et al. 2013), but no other literature reports regarding pathologies of this species are available. Z. tequila is a viviparous species, and females give birth to free-swimming fry after an intraovarian gestation. The present case describes an adult female showing a progressive coelomic distention, suggestive of gestation. However, after a period of anorexia of 2-day duration, the fish died and was immediately submitted for necropsy examination. Macroscopical examination confirmed the abdominal enlargement, associated with the presence of a mucous secretion from the genital pore (Fig. 1a). A large, oval, brownish to grey, multilobulated mass (2 9 1.5 9 1 cm) occupied most of the coelomic cavity (Fig. 1b,c), causing intestinal occlusion by compression of the intestine without infiltration. Samples of the mass and representative tissues of all major organs were fixed in 10% neutral-buffered formalin, embedded in paraffin, cut in 5-lm-thick sections, stained with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and examined by light microscopy. Additional sections were also processed for immunohistochemistry (IHC) using the standard avidin–biotin–peroxidase method and specific antibodies against pan-cytokeratin (CK), vimentin, neuron-specific enolase (NSE) (Dako) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) (Chemicon International). Negative controls were performed in all instances by omitting the primary antibody from the staining schedule or replacing it by an antibody of irrelevant specificity. Sections of canine skin and brain were used as positive controls for CK and vimentin, and for NSE and GFAP, respectively. Histologically, the mass consisted of a complex variety of tissues derived from the three germ cell layers, suggesting a diagnosis of tridermic teratoma. Structures of ectodermal origin included multifocal, keratinizing squamous epithelium, and large areas of nervous system tissue resembling cerebrum (Figs 2 & 3). Mesenchymal tissues (mesodermal origin) consisted of skeletal muscle, cartilage, adipose tissue and fibrous connective tissue, with multifocal sheets of melanomacrophages Correspondence M Romanucci, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Loc. Piano D’Accio S.P. 18, 64100 Teramo, Italy (e-mail: [e-mail])