Original Paper

Urine from Scrapie-Infected Hamsters Comprises Low Levels of Prion Infectivity

Zehavit Kariv-Inbal^a, Tamir Ben-Hur^a, Nikolaos C. Grigoriadis^b, Roni Engelstein^a, Ruth Gabizon<sup>a

a</sup>Department of Neurology, The Agnes Ginges Center for Human Neurogenetics, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel;
^bDepartment of Neurology, Laboratory of Experimental Neurology, AHEPA University Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
 

Address of Corresponding Author

Neurodegenerative Diseases 2006;3:123-128 (DOI: 10.1159/000094770)

  Abstract

The question of whether prion diseases can be transmitted by body fluids has important epidemiological, environmental and economical implications. In this work, we set to investigate whether urine collected from scrapie-infected hamsters can transmit fatal or subclinical infectivity to normal hamsters. After prolonged incubation times ranging from 300 to 700 days, a small number of animals inoculated with scrapie urine succumbed to scrapie disease, and several asymptomatic hamsters presented low levels of PrP^Sc in their brains. In addition, most of the asymptomatic hamsters inoculated with scrapie urine, as opposed to those inoculated with normal urine, presented extensive gliosis as well as protease-resistant light chain IgG in their urine, a molecule shown by us and others to be a surrogate marker for prion infection. Our results suggest that urine from scrapie-infected hamsters can transmit a widespread subclinical disease that in some cases develops into fatal scrapie.

Copyright © 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Dr. Ruth Gabizon
Department of Neurology
Hadassah University Hospital
Jerusalem 91120 (Israel)
Tel. +972 2 677 7858, Fax +972 2 642 9441, E-Mail gabizonr@hadassah.org.il

http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowAbstract&ProduktNr=229093&Ausgabe=232120&ArtikelNr=94770