Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • What's Your Diagnosis
  • Published:

Diagnosis | Spontaneous bullous pemphigoid

Lab Animal volume 38, pages 230–231 (2009)Cite this article

We carried out a thorough and complete review of the husbandry and management practices in cooperation with the floor supervisor and animal caretakers and ruled out chemical, physical, solar and mechanical trauma as causes of this blistering dermatosis. Various infectious vesicular diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease, swine vesicular disease, vesicular exanthema and vesicular stomatitis were also ruled out because this colony had been isolated for 8 months and because we observed no compatible systemic signs or pathognomonic physical examination findings, such as oral and hoof lesions.

Bullous pemphigoid is an autoimmune subepidermal blistering dermatosis of humans and animals2,3,4. In humans, subepidermal vesicles arise as the result of dermoepidermal separation caused by deposition of immunoglobulin G (IgG) autoantibodies directed against two major hemidesmosomal antigens, BPAG1 (BP230) and BPAG2 (BP180) or type XVII collagen5. Hemidesmosomes are anchoring junctions of epithelial cells to a noncellular substrate, composed of specialized areas of the plasma membrane. In humans, circulating levels of serum BPAG2 autoantibodies are correlated with disease severity6. In the Yucatan minipig, IgG autoantibodies similar to those in humans directed against BPAG2 have been identified both in the skin and in circulation4. Consequently, the Yucatan minipig has been proposed as a model of spontaneously occurring bullous pemphigoid4.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 2: Low-magnification digital photomicrograph of dermal punch biopsy specimen from pig in Figure 1 stained with hematoxylin and eosin.
Figure 3: High-magnification digital photomicrograph of a dermal punch biopsy specimen from the pig in Figure 1 stained with hematoxylin and eosin.

References

  1. Mirsky, M.L., Singleton, W. & Olivry, T. “Have you seen this?” Spontaneous cutaneous vesicular disease in Yucatan minipigs. Toxicol. Pathol. 28, 357–358 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Olivry, T. & Chan, L.S. Autoimmune blistering dermatoses in domestic animals. Clin. Dermatol. 19, 750–760 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Olivry, T. & Jackson, H.A. Diagnosing new autoimmune blistering skin diseases of dogs and cats. Clin. Tech. Small Anim. Pract. 16, 225–229 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Olivry, T. et al. A spontaneously arising porcine model of bullous pemphigoid. Arch. Dermatol. Res. 292, 37–45 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Leighty, L. et al. Experimental models for the autoimmune and inflammatory blistering disease, Bullous pemphigoid. Arch. Dermatol. Res. 299, 417–422 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Schmidt, E. et al. Serum levels of autoantibodies to BP180 correlate with disease activity in patients with bullous pemphigoid. Arch. Dermatol. 136, 174–178 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Seltzer, J.D. Skin biopsies in mammals. Lab Anim. (NY) 36, 23–24 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank John J. Ronan, BS, for providing the digitized photomicrographs.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Diagnosis | Spontaneous bullous pemphigoid. Lab Anim 38, 230–231 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0709-230

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/laban0709-230

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing