Primary retinopathy in scrapie in mice deprived of light.
Rodents infected with some strains of scrapie develop a severe retinopathy in which the photoreceptor cells are destroyed. The possibility that this results from light-induced damage as a secondary consequence of the disease was tested by maintaining scrapie-infected albino mice in total darkness. Photoreceptor loss occurred in terminal scrapie-infected mice maintained in both total darkness and in normal lighting conditions establishing that the retinopathy is a primary lesion with this strain of scrapie agent.
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D008027:Light / Q000009:adverse effects*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology; D012162:Retinal Degeneration / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D012608:Scrapie / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology