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The pathogenesis of scrapie and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) following oral uptake of agent is still poorly understood and can best be studied in mice and hamsters. The experiments described here further extend the understanding of the pathways along which infection spreads from the periphery to the brain after an oral challenge with scrapie. Using TSE-specific amyloid protein (TSE-AP, also called PrP) as a marker for infectivity, immunohistochemical evidence suggested that the first target area in the brain of hamsters

Scrapie is a disease which occurs naturally in sheep and goats and belongs to a group of neurodegenerative disorders known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or TSEs. There is currently no cure for TSEs, and the causative agent has not yet been identified. Numerous experiments, however, have addressed the pathogenetic process following a TSE infection. In this paper we present a study of the spread of the scrapie agent after intraperitoneal infection of hamsters. The accumulation of TSE-specific amyloid protein, TSE-AP (also known as PrP), was used as a marker for infectivity. The data suggested three points of agent entry into

In this report a new approach for the identification of pathological changes in scrapie-infected Syrian hamster brains using Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy is discussed. Using computer-based pattern recognition techniques and imaging, infrared maps with high structural contrast were obtained. This strategy permitted comparison of spectroscopic data from identical anatomical structures in scrapie-infected and control brains. Consistent alterations in membrane state-of-order, protein composition, carbohydrate and nucleic acid constituents were detected in scrapie-infected tissues. Cluster analysis performed on spectra of homogenized medulla oblongata and pons samples also reliably separated uninfected from infected specimens. This method provides a useful tool not only for the exploration of the disease process but also for the development of rapid diagnostic and screening techniques of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.

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