title: Intracerebral transmission of scrapie to cattle.
abstract: To determine if sheep scrapie agent(s) in the United States would induce a disease in cattle resembling bovine spongiform encephalopathy, 18 newborn calves were inoculated intracerebrally with a pooled suspension of brain from 9 sheep with scrapie. Half of the calves were euthanatized 1 year after inoculation. All calves kept longer than 1 year became severely lethargic and demonstrated clinical signs of motor neuron dysfunction that were manifest as progressive stiffness, posterior paresis, general weakness, and permanent recumbency. The incubation period was 14-18 months, and the clinical course was 1-5 months. The brain from each calf was examined for lesions and for protease-resistant prion protein. Lesions were subtle, but a disease-specific isoform of the prion protein was present in the brain of all calves. Neither signs nor lesions were characteristic of those for bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
authors.affiliation: USDA, Agriculture Research Service, National Animal Disease Center, Ames, IA 50010.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Cutlip
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Race
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Jenny
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: H D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Lehmkuhl
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: DeBey
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Robinson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D016643:Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D015151:Immunoblotting / Q000662:veterinary; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D011328:Prions / Q000032:analysis; D012608:Scrapie / Q000473:pathology / Q000635:transmission*; D012756:Sheep; D012894:Sleep Stages; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D011328:Prions