In September 2001, a five-year-old Holstein cow was diagnosed as the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Japan by histopathology, immunohistochemistry and Western blot tests. To compare with British BSE cases, the cerebral vacuolar lesion profile and the topographic distribution of accumulated prion protein of the case were examined. The distribution of vacuolar lesions and prion protein accumulation was similar to that in the British cases. Vacuolar lesions were seen mainly in the brain stem, and the most severe lesions were seen in the nuclei at the level of the obex that included the nucleus tractus solitarii and nucleus tractus spinalis nervi trigemini. These findings indicated that Japanese BSE is likely to have been exposed to the same strain of the agent as the British cases. (Pathogenesis Research Team, Prion Disease Reseach Center TEL +81-29-838-7837)
Reference:
Kimura et al. (2002) Vet. Rec. 151:328-330.
