Tubulovesicular structures are present in brains of hamsters infected with the Echigo-1 strain of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease agent.
Tubulovesicular structures (particles; TVS) are virion-like particles 25-30 nm in diameter found by thin-section electron microscopy in brains of all prion diseases including scrapie, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) fatal familial insomnia (FFI) and Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheineker disease (GSS) as well as in cell cultures infected with TSE agents. TVS are regarded as a disease-specific ultrastructural marker for TSEs and, by those not completely satisfied with the prion hypothesis, they are even considered to be a possible candidate for the infectious TSE agent itself. A caveat regarding that interpretation stemmed from previous failures to find TVS by electron microscopic studies of tissues from animals infected with the Echigo-1 strain of CJD agent. We now report detecting TVS in brains of hamsters infected with that strain of CJD agent, albeit with a very low frequency.
Liberski
Paweł
P
Laboratory of Electron Microscopy and Neuropathology, Department of Molecular Pathology and Neuropathology, Chair of Oncology, Medical University of Lodz, Poland. ppliber@csk.umed.lodz.pl.
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006224:Cricetinae; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008647:Mesocricetus; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission / Q000379:methods; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D014617:Vacuoles / Q000648:ultrastructure*