EVIDENCE FOR AN EARLY INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE IN THE CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM OF MICE WITH SCRAPIE

In Alzheimer's disease, the most prevalent of the neurodegenerative di seases, inflammation of the CNS contributes to the pathology and is a target for therapy.(13,18,19) In contrast, the group of neurodegenerat ive conditions known as the Prion Diseases have been widely reported a s lacking any inflammatory elements(5,23) despite the many similaritie s between the pathologies of Alzheimer's Disease and Prion Diseases.(1 0) We have found evidence for an inflammatory component in mouse scrap ie, characterized by microglial activation and T-lymphocyte recruitmen t, which appears long before any clinical signs of the disease and spr eads along well-defined anatomical pathways, These observations emphas ize the potential value of murine scrapie as a model for studying the inflammatory pathology of other neurodegenerative diseases. Copyright (C) 1996 IBRO.