Metallothionein in bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
An increase in metallothionein I and II (MT I/II) mRNA concentrations has been reported in the central nervous system of scrapie-infected rodents. In this study we compared cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), cattle affected by neurological disease other than BSE, and clinically healthy cattle in respect of MT I/II immunoreactivity in brainstem medullary tissue. Marked astrocytic MT I/II immunolabelling was seen in all BSE-affected animals, in contrast to clinically healthy cases, in which no such labelling was detected. In BSE, MT I/II immunoreactive astrocytes were confined specifically to areas of vacuolation or abnormal prion protein (PrP(BSE)) deposition, or both. MT I/II immunolabelling was also seen in a small number of animals with a neurological disease other than BSE. These findings complement previous studies by demonstrating increased levels of MT I/II in transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE)-infected brain tissue, indicating that MT I/II may play some as yet unidentified role in the response to TSE infection.
Hanlon
J
J
Department of Zoology and Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
Monks
E
E
Hughes
C
C
Weavers
E
E
Rogers
M
M
D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002417:Cattle; D016643:Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques / Q000662:veterinary; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008668:Metallothionein / Q000378:metabolism*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D011328:Prions / Q000378:metabolism
D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D011328:Prions; D008668:Metallothionein