Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle was previously thought to be caused by a uniform strain (classical BSE); however, different neuropathological and molecular phenotypes of BSE (atypical BSE) have been recently reported. At present, atypical BSEs are classified as either H-type or L-type according to the higher and lower molecular masses of the unglycosylated form of proteinase K-resistant prion protein (PrPres) in western blot analysis, respectively, compared with those from classical BSE isolates.
We recently reported the intraspecies transmission of L-type BSE detected in Japan (BSE/JP24 isolate). To clarify the peripheral pathogenesis of L-type BSE, we studied prion distribution in nervous and lymphoid tissues obtained from experimentally challenged cattle. The present study demonstrated that almost all of the peripheral nerve tissues tested became PrPres positive in a timedependent manner, whereas no PrPres was detectable in lymphoid tissues, even in terminal atypical BSE-diseased cattle.
(Research Center for Prion Diseases)
References:
Iwamaru Y. et al. (2010) Emerg. Infect. Dis. 16: 1151-1154
