IMMUNODETECTION OF PRPSC IN SPLEENS OF SOME SCRAPIE-INFECTED SHEEP BUT NOT BSE-INFECTED COWS

The development of diagnostic tools for transmissible spongiform encep halopathies (TSEs) would greatly assist their study and may provide as sistance in controlling the disease, The detection of an abnormal form of the host protein PrP in noncentral nervous system tissues may form the basis for diagnosis of TSEs, Using a new antibody reagent to PrP produced in chickens, PrP can be readily detected in crude tissue extr acts, PrP from uninfected spleen had a lower molecular mass range than PrP from brain, suggesting a lower degree of glycosylation. A simple method for detecting the abnormal form of the protein, PrPSc, in rumin ant brain and spleen has been developed, PrPSc was detected in sheep s pleen extracts from a frock affected by natural scrapie and was also f ound in spleens from some, but not all, experimental TSE cases, In spl eens from cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) no PrPSc was detected. It is therefore suggested that there is differential tar geting of PrPSc deposition between organs in these different types of TSE infection which, with other factors, depends on strain of infectin g agent.