Van Der Lugt J J, Schultz R A, Fourie N, Hon L J, Jordaan P, Labuschagne L
Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute.
Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 1992 Dec;59(4):323-33.
Lesions in 4 field cases (3 sheep and 1 goat) of 'waterpens' or water belly, caused by the plant Galenia africana, are described. The clinical pathological and pathological findings in 7 sheep which were drenched with toxic plant material are also reported. Inappetence, ruminal stasis and apathy as well as tachycardia were noticed in some of the sheep towards the end of the dosing period. The most prominent clinical pathological change in the experimental animals was an increase in the activity of gamma-glutamyltransferase which in some animals occurred within days after commencement of dosing. This indicates liver involvement in the early stages of the intoxication, and at this stage no heart abnormalities were detected clinically, clinical pathologically or with cardiac function tests. Decrease in cardiac function were recorded in 2 sheep towards the end of the dosing period. Liver and heart lesions were present in all the animals. In some cases hepatic changes were mild and characterized by dilation of central veins and sinusoids and, less commonly, centrilobular fibrosis. More advanced lesions included centrilobular fibrosis and bridging between neighbouring lobules with adjacent areas of coagulative necrosis, lysis and ballooning degeneration of hepatocytes. Myocardial changes occurred in the free ventricular walls and interventricular septum and comprised hypertrophy of myocytes with consequent degeneration and necrosis and fibrosis. In cases of longer duration myocytes were diffusely atrophic with scattered groups of remaining hypertrophic fibres. The clinical pathological and pathological features suggest that G. africana is primarily hepatotoxic with myocardial involvement occurring only in the terminal stages of the intoxication.
描述了由非洲盖裂果属植物引起的4例“水圈”或水腹病例（3只绵羊和1只山羊）的病变情况。还报告了7只被投喂有毒植物材料的绵羊的临床病理和病理检查结果。在投喂期结束时，部分绵羊出现食欲不振、瘤胃积食、冷漠以及心动过速。实验动物最显著的临床病理变化是γ-谷氨酰转移酶活性升高，部分动物在投喂开始数天内就出现了这种情况。这表明在中毒早期肝脏就受到了影响，在此阶段，临床、临床病理或心脏功能检查均未发现心脏异常。在投喂期结束时，2只绵羊出现心脏功能下降。所有动物均存在肝脏和心脏病变。在某些情况下，肝脏变化较轻，表现为中央静脉和血窦扩张，较少见的是小叶中心纤维化。更严重的病变包括小叶中心纤维化以及相邻小叶之间的桥接，伴有相邻区域的凝固性坏死、肝细胞溶解和气球样变性。心肌变化发生在心室游离壁和室间隔，表现为心肌细胞肥大，继而出现变性、坏死和纤维化。病程较长的病例中，心肌细胞弥漫性萎缩，残留有散在的肥大纤维群。临床病理和病理特征表明，非洲盖裂果属植物主要具有肝毒性，心肌受累仅发生在中毒的末期。
