Adenocarcinoma of apocrine sweat glands in a mouflon (Ovis musimon)

Department of Veterinary Public Health and Animal Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Bologna, Italy.

A free-living mouflon (Ovis musimon) was presented with a mass on the left shoulder. At necropsy, multifocal, slightly protruding whitish spots were noted on the kidneys, and several lymph nodes were abnormal. Histologically, the mass was composed of epithelial cells arranged in tubular and tubulopapillary structures. The cytoplasm of the epithelial cells had numerous periodic acid-Schiff-positive and diastase-resistant granules. Ultrastructurally, the cytoplasm of the neoplastic cells contained numerous pleomorphic secretory granules and microvilli, which partially covered the luminal surface of the tumor cells. Metastatic foci were present in prescapular and mediastinal lymph nodes and kidneys. On the basis of histological and ultrastructural findings, this tumor was diagnosed as a tubulopapillary adenocarcinoma, arising from apocrine sweat glands of the skin.