Subendocardial nodular proliferation of myofibroblasts in a laboratory beagle.

A smooth white focus was macroscopically observed in the right ventricular endocardium in a 15-month-old male beagle from a 4-week oral gavage toxicity study. This lesion likely arose from myofibroblasts and was diagnosed as subendocardial nodular proliferation of myofibroblasts. This lesion was observed only in one animal in a low dose group and was an incidental finding. Histopathologically, the well-demarcated nodule comprised abundant collagen containing spindle cells arranged in intermediate to long streams and formed broad interlacing fascicles. The spindle cells had an indistinct cell border with round to elongated hyperchromatic nuclei or nuclei with finely stippled chromatin and indistinct nucleoli. Furthermore, these cells were weakly positive for S100 and positive for α-smooth muscle actin, calponin, and vimentin. Based on the histological features, the proliferating spindle cells resembled phenotypes of smooth muscles or myofibroblasts. However, the proliferating cells lacked well-differentiated smooth muscle cells, cigar-shaped nuclei, and well-developed reticulin fibers outlining individual cells. This study describes the morphological characteristics of an endocardial proliferative lesion in the right ventricle of a beagle.