title: Electron microscopic findings in brain of Rocky Mountain elk with chronic wasting disease.
abstract: We report here the electron microscopic findings in brain of Rocky Mountain elk with chronic wasting disease (CDW), a progressive and fatal neurological disorder of wild ruminants characterized neuropathologically by intraneuronal vacuolation, spongiform change of the neuropil and astrocytic hypertrophy and hyperplasia. Ultrastructural findings included membrane-bound vacuoles in neuronal elements, increased number of glial filaments, dystrophic neurites, numerous neuritic plaques, Hirano bodies and perikaryal inclusion bodies. Similar findings have been observed in CWD-affected mule deer, as well as in bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and in natural and experimental scrapie and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease indicating a common etiopathogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Guiroy
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Liberski
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Gajdusek
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology; D016643:Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D002479:Inclusion Bodies; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D012608:Scrapie / Q000503:physiopathology