EXPERIMENTAL TRANSMISSION OF BSE AND SCRAPIE TO THE COMMON MARMOSET

Two young male common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) were injected int racerebrally and intraperitoneally with a crude brain homogenate prepa red from a cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Two other marmosets were similarly injected with brain homogenate from a sheep w ith natural scrapie. The two animals injected with scrapie material de veloped neurological signs 38 and 42 months after injection and the tw o animals injected with BSE material developed neurological signs afte r 46 and 47 months. Post mortem examination of the brains revealed spo ngiform encephalopathy especially in the basal nuclei and diencephalon of all the animals and, in addition, involvement of the cerebral cort ex of the marmosets injected with scrapie material. The experiment ext ends the host range of experimental BSE to include a primate species.