Aborted bovine fetuses submitted to the Pathology Laboratory at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil between 1995 and the first trimester of 1999 were selected and examined histologically. Tissue from thirty aborted fetuses were examined after staining with Hematoxylin & Eosin and non-suppurative inflammations were observed mainly in the brain and/or heart of six cases. The avidin-biotin immunohistochemistry technique was done using antiserum against Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii in those six cases. Tachyzoites that reacted with N. caninum antisera were seen in three of the six fetuses with non-suppurative inflammation. There was no reaction with T. gondii antiserum. These results confirm the presence of Neospora caninum abortion in cattle in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Neospora caninum; Abortion; bovine; immunohistochemistry
