Publication: The pathological changes in peripheral organs of scrapie-infected animals
Authors
Ye, X. ; Carp, R.I.
item.page.secondaryauthor
item.page.director
Publisher
Murcia : F. Hernández
publication.page.editor
publication.page.department
DOI
item.page.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Description
Abstract
Scrapie is an unconventional neurodegenerative
disease in sheep and goats that has been
known in Europe for over 260 Years. The scrapie agents
affect the brain and are transmissible from animal to
animal. Key features of scrapie infections are abnormal
behavior and deficits in motor function. These clinical
findings can be related to the damage found in the
central nervous system. In some scrapie strain-host
model systems there are other manifestations of disease
that appear to be related to pathological changes found
in the peripheral organs. especially in the endocrine
organs such as pituitary, adrenal glands, the islet of
Langerhans and ovary. In those model systems in which
extensive histopathological changes have been seen in
peripheral organs, the titers of scrapie infectivity nd the
levels of the scrapie specific protein, PrPSc, are
relatively low in the affected organs. These data suggest
but do not prove that changes in peripheral organs are
secondary to the scrapie-induced neurodegeneration that
is occurring in the brain. In some scrapie strain-host
combinations, obesity and aberrant glucose metabolism
are seen in the preclinical and clinical phases of the
incubation period. There appear to be two pathways that
lead to these particular clinical manifestations. In SJL
mice infected by the ME7 or 22L strains of mouseadapted
scrapie and in some scrapie-infected sheep, the
mechanism is related to changes induced in the
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. The other pathway
is exemplified by hamsters infected with two hamsteradapted
scrapie strains, 139H and 22CH: it appears that
lesions found in the hypothalamic-islets of Langerhans
axis are critical. A number of reviews on the
pathological changes in the central nervous system have
been published and therefore, in this review article, we
focus on the gross and histopathological changes in
peripheral organs in severa1 scrapie strain-host
combinations. The changes induced in peripheral organs
in a number of scrapie strain-host combinations expand
Offprint requests to: Dr. Xuemin Ye, Neurotoxicology Division, National
Center for Toxicological Research, 3900 NCTR Drive, Jefferson, AR
72079, USA
the number of diseases in which the unconventional slow
infections could serve as a model. Further work in this
area could help us to understand the mechanisms and
pathways of the pathological changes found in the
peripheral organs of the scrapie-infected animals
Citation
item.page.embargo
Ir a Estadísticas
Sin licencia Creative Commons.