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Eosinophil efferocytosis during emphysematous eosinophilic lymphangitis in the bovine rumen: histopathological evaluation with special focus on cellular kinetics of professional phagocytes

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Abstract

Eosinophil efferocytosis, a process of engulfment and removal of apoptotic eosinophils by professional phagocytes, has been described in several chronic inflammatory disorders (such as asthma) in human medicine. Eosinophil efferocytosis was recognized in naturally occurring chronic inflammatory disorders affecting lymphatic vessels of the bovine rumen. Twelve adult Holstein–Friesian dairy cows that were conventionally slaughtered exhibited regional emphysematous thickening of the ruminal submucosa. Histopathology revealed multiple emphysematous eosinophilic lymphangitis, characterized by cystic dilations of submucosal lymphatics in association with fibrous proliferation, neovascularization, and infiltration by large numbers of eosinophils, macrophages, multinucleated giant cells, and smaller numbers of mast cells. Neither parasites nor other pathogenic organisms were identified in the inflammatory lesions. The composition of gaseous constituents within dilated lymphatics was not known. Based on the histopathological findings, an allergic pathogenesis was considered to be possibly implicated in this disorder. In the inflamed lesions of seven cows, macrophages, and giant cells frequently phagocytized and disposed of large numbers of apoptotic eosinophils, demonstrating high efferocytic activity on promoting the resolution of this lymphangitis. From perspectives of cellular kinetics, eosinophil efferocystois by these professional phagocytes indicated a regularized pattern of progress steps toward the degradation of apoptotic eosinophils as follows: first, nuclei of apoptotic eosinophils were displaced and disintegrated, then, cytoplasmic granules were agglomerated and dissolved, and finally, cell bodies totally disappeared from cytoplasmic vacuoles (efferosomes) of phagocytes. It is revealed that older eosinophils undergoing constitutive, spontaneous apoptosis in inflammatory lesions were cleared via the lymphatic system in cattle.

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  1. Department of Histopathology, Diagnostic Animal Pathology Office, Nishino 11-9/20-25, Hokkaido, 063-0041, Japan

    Susumu Ohfuji

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Correspondence to Susumu Ohfuji.

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Ohfuji, S. Eosinophil efferocytosis during emphysematous eosinophilic lymphangitis in the bovine rumen: histopathological evaluation with special focus on cellular kinetics of professional phagocytes. Comp Clin Pathol 31, 73–80 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-021-03307-z

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