title: Detection of prion infectivity in fat tissues of scrapie-infected mice.
abstract: Distribution of prion infectivity in organs and tissues is important in understanding prion disease pathogenesis and designing strategies to prevent prion infection in animals and humans. Transmission of prion disease from cattle to humans resulted in banning human consumption of ruminant nervous system and certain other tissues. In the present study, we surveyed tissue distribution of prion infectivity in mice with prion disease. We show for the first time detection of infectivity in white and brown fat. Since high amounts of ruminant fat are consumed by humans and also incorporated into animal feed, fat-containing tissues may pose a previously unappreciated hazard for spread of prion infection.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Persistent Virus Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, United States of America.
authors.forename: Brent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Race
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Meade-White
authors.forename: Michael B A
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Oldstone
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Race
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chesebro
mesh_terms: D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000737:chemistry*; D052436:Adipose Tissue, White / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D018620:PrPSc Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D012608:Scrapie / Q000378:metabolism*; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D018620:PrPSc Proteins