SCID MOUSE SPLEEN DOES NOT SUPPORT SCRAPIE AGENT REPLICATION

BALB/c and severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice were inoculate d intracerebrally or intraperitoneally with scrapie agent strain ME7 t o examine the role of functional lymphocytes and follicular dendritic cells in splenic infectivity and PrPSc accumulation. Intracerebrally i noculated BALB/c and SCID mice developed the clinical signs and micros copic lesions characteristic of scrapie. Spleens from terminally affec ted BALB/c mice contained PrPSc which was detectable by immuno-blot an alysis; SCID mouse spleens did not contain detectable PrPSc. SCID mous e spleens collected during the first 90 days after intraperitoneal inf ection contained neither infectivity nor PrPSc.