Primary Ovarian Leiomyoma in a White Tiger (Panthera tigris)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

this is a case report of an ovarian leiomyoma detected as incidental finding at the necropsy of a tiger. 

Despite the case is well presented and documented, the report does not provide any novel information to the literature. Furthermore, the expression of muscular markers are not sufficient to exclude the diagnosis of thecoma (inhibit alpha negative staining would be more supportive of the author's diagnosis). Finally, the correlation with the long-term treatment of the animal seems not to be supported by evidence.

For these reasons, I am sorry, I do not feel the report is worth of publication.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer, 

Please find attached our responses to your comments. 

Best regards 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Some minor comments to be reviewed:

Please add the number of mitotic figures counted (not just" mitotic figures were rare").

Please be more specific about the suitable positives and negatives controls. Did you use same species tissue?

Author Response

Dear Reviewer, 

Please consider enclosed our responses to your comments 

Best regards 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

This is a well written manuscript where the authors report on a primary ovarian leiomyoma in a white tiger. The paper is well written and very structured.

My minor comments are:

1. Line 92- please provide space and units between numbers eg. 23 cm x 18 cm x 6 cm

2. Line 94- please name the organs with adhesions instead of just mentioning "abdominal viscera"

3. Was there histologic evidence of cardiomyopathy, especially with the gross finding of cardiac dilatation?

4. Line 108, "non-encapsulated"

5. Line 114- please change to "mitotic figures" instead of "mitotic features". Also please include how many mitotic figures were observed, for example in a fixed area instead of generalizing as rare.

6. Line 124-127, please rephrase for clarity.

7. Please include high-magnification images for both HandE and IHC pictures showing the morphology of cells.

8. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer, 

Please find enclosed our answers to your comments. 

Best regards 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The Authors states they "aimed to detail the case presentation, gross appearance, histopathology as well as immunohistochemical features of a rare tumor in veterinary medicine"

What is rare in the this case is the species (Tiger), which is uncommonly examined compared with domestic species (wich is likely the cause of the small number of cases documented in this species as well as many other tumor types). The neoplasm (leiomyoma) by itself is far than rare, its macroscopic and microscopic features as well as immunhistochemical reactivity are very well known and do not differ from the present case. Despite the Authors added the immunohistochemical staining for inhibin alpha, excluding a thecoma, I do not feel the report is worth of publication.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer, 

Please find enclosed our response to your comments. 

On behalf of all Authors 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf