Experimentally induced bovine spongiform encephalopathy did not transmit via goat embryos

Goats are susceptible to experimental challenge with bovine spongiform ence phalopathy (BSE). This study set out to investigate whether the transmissio n of BSE could occur in goats following the transfer of embryos from experi mentally infected donor females into uninfected recipient females. The resu lts showed no evidence of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy disease i n any of the offspring which developed from embryos from infected donors, n or indeed in any of the recipient females used as surrogate dams, In additi on, there was no indication of experimental BSE spreading as either a vener eal infection to males used in mating or by maternal transmission to offspr ing born naturally to experimentally infected donors, although numbers were small.