Unilateral anal sacculectomy for anal sac apocrine gland adenocarcinoma with urethral involvement

The patient presented to a veterinary hospital with a month-long history of ‘scooting’ and a right-sided anal gland mass. A diagnosis of a stage 2 anal sac apocrine gland adenocarcinoma was confirmed, and the patient underwent a right-sided anal sacculectomy. There was involvement of the urethra and adherence to the rectum and a subsequent urethral incision was necessary, which was surgically repaired at the time of surgery. The patient was hospitalised for several weeks postoperatively for urinary catheter care and further nursing interventions. The patient was discharged from hospital 3 weeks after surgery once the urethra had healed sufficiently enough to enable normal micturition and subsequently made a full recovery.

Preliminary study on the pathogenesis of anal fistula

BACKGROUND Anal gland infection is one of the main pathogenic factors of anal fistula. The anal gland is mainly consists of columnar epithelial cells and goblet cells. Goblet cells could secrete mucins which maintain the surface mucous gel layer of intestine to prevent columnar epithelial cells from the direct acting of bacterias. The absence or diminished secretion of goblet cells could lead to the exposure of columnar epithelial cells to bacterias. In recent years, studies have found that most of the microorganisms in perianal abscess and anal fistula are intestinal bacteria. So it can be considered that the occurrence and development of anal fistula is closely related to gut microbiota. However, the molecular mechanism of gut microbiota acting on the epithelial cells of anal gland leading to the occurrence and development of anal fistula has not been explored. METHODS Anal fistula tissues were collected from 30 patients, and HE staining was employed to observe pathological changes of anal gland. Stool specimens were collected from normal group (14 normal subjects), preoperative group (21 subjects before surgery) and postoperative group (16 subjects after surgery). High-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed to explore differences among different groups. RESULTS It was found by HE staining that normal anal gland is composed of a large number of columnar epithelial cells as well as goblet cells, while the anal gland of patients with anal fistula is seriously lack of goblet cells. In the normal ones, a large number of vacuoles formed by the dye dissolution of mucin particles can be seen at the top of the goblet cells, and a large amount of mucin secretion can be seen in the center of the anal gland. The results of high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that there were significant statistical differences in species richness, species evenness and species composition between the preoperation group and the normal group (P1 = 0.00004), and between the preoperative group and the postoperative group (P2 = 0.00003). It also showed that PWY-6471 metabolic pathway was the most significant difference between the preoperative group and the postoperative group (P = 0.0033). CONCLUSIONS The occurrence of anal fistula may be related to the abnormal permeability of mucus layer and the change of intestinal flora composition. The absence or diminished secretion of goblet cells may cause exception of the permeability of mucus layer which makes the columnar epithelial cells of anal gland exposed to the direct contact of peptidoglycan. The metabolite of pathogenic microorganisms could activate the signal pathway (i.g. NLR/NF-κB) which leading to the overexpression of inflammatory factors and cause anal fistula.

Anal Gland/Duct Cyst: A Case Report

Anal gland/duct cyst (AGC) is rare and observed in only 0.05% of patients undergoing anal surgery. AGC is thought to be a retention cyst in the anal gland and arises when an obstruction of the anal duct causes fluid collection in the anal gland. We report a case of AGC in a 66-year-old woman without anal symptoms. Found by colonoscopy, the AGC was excised transanally. The histopathology of the specimen confirmed AGC. Colonoscopists should include AGC in the differential diagnosis of anal canal mass and rule out of malignancy. Excision is recommended for definitive diagnosis and treatment.

Knowing Me, Knowing You: Anal Gland Secretion of European Badgers (Meles meles) Codes for Individuality, Sex and Social Group Membership

European badgers, Meles meles, are group-living in the UK, and demarcate their ranges with shared latrines. As carnivores, badgers possess paired anal glands, but olfactory information on the content of badger anal gland secretion (AGS) is largely uninvestigated. Here, we examined the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of AGS samples from 57 free-living badgers using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography—mass spectrometry. AGS was rich in alkanes (C7–C15, 14.3% of identified compounds), aldehydes (C5–C14, 9.7%), phenols (C6–C15, 9.5%), alcohols (C5–C10, 7.3%), aromatic hydrocarbons (C6–C13, 6.8%), ketones (C6–C13, 6.3%) and carboxylic acids (C3–C12, 5.6%) and contained a variety of esters, sulfurous and nitrogenous compounds, and ethers. The number of VOCs per profile ranged from 20 to 111 (mean = 65.4; ± 22.7 SD), but no compound was unique for any of the biological categories. After normalization of the raw data using Probabilistic Quotient Normalization, we produced a resemblance matrix by calculating the Euclidian distances between all sample pairs. PERMANOVA revealed that AGS composition differs between social groups, and concentration and complexity in terms of number of measurable VOCs varies between seasons and years. AGS VOC profiles encode individual identity, sex and vary with female reproductive state, indicating an important function in intraspecific communication. Because AGS is excreted together with fecal deposits, we conclude that chemical complexity of AGS enables particularly latrine-using species, such as badgers, to advertise more complex individual-specific information than in feces alone.

MORFOLOGI KELENJAR ANAL MUSANG LUAK BETINA (PARADOXURUS HERMAPHRODITUS)

The common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) is one of the mammalian in Indonesia which have anal gland in female and fefemale that located in the lower tail. This research was aimed to describe the morphology of anal gland of common palm civet female. One female of common palm civet was used in this research which observed macroscopic and microscopic.The result showed that common palm civet have a pair of anal gland which hasshaped like ball and located in the anal sacs wall’s in the ventrolateral of anus.Each anal gland has a ostium of anal canal dorsolaterally in the cutaneous zone of anal canal . Microscopic observation showed a well developed sebaceous gland and apocrine sweat gland in the wall of anal sac. Sebaceous and apocrine glands were excreted their product into main ductus to the anal canal.