Sj. Ryder et al., Inconsistent detection of PrP in extraneural tissues of cats with feline spongiform encephalopathy, VET REC, 148(14), 2001, pp. 437-441
Feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE), a transmissible spongiform encephal
opathy or prion disease of cats, first reported in Great Britain in 1990, i
s believed to result from the consumption of food contaminated by the agent
of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The accumulation of PrP in non-
neural tissues of cats diagnosed as suffering from FSE was investigated by
immunohistochemistry. In the majority of the cats no disease-specific PrP w
as detected in lymphoid tissues. Small amounts of PrP were detected in the
spleen of only two of 13 samples examined, in Peyer's patches of one of the
two cases for which suitable material was available, but in the myenteric
plexus of all four cats in which sections of intestine were examined. In ad
dition PrP immunostaining was found in the kidney of all the cats with FSE
whose kidneys were examined.