Evidence for oxidative stress in experimental prion disease

Oxidative stress has been shown to be important in several neurodegenerativ e disorders. Previous in vitro studies have already demonstrated the abilit y of a prion protein fragment to induce oxidative stress in cultured cells. By immunohistochemistry for nitrotyrosine (NT) and heme oxygenase-l as mar kers for oxidative stress, we found widespread neuronal labeling for NT in scrapie-infected mouse brains, in agreement with peroxynitrite mediated neu ronal degeneration. Damage by free radicals is a likely cause for neurodege neration in prion disease, and antioxidants are a potential therapy of thes e disorders. (C) 2000 Academic Press.