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PrPTSE in muscle-associated lymphatic tissue during the preclinical stage of mice infected orally with bovine spongiform encephalopathy
ISSN
0022-1317
Date Issued
2009
Author(s)
Cardone, Franco
Thomzig, Achim
Valanzano, Angelina
Sbriccoli, Marco
Abdel-Haq, Hanin
Graziano, Silvia
Pritzkow, Sandra
Puopolo, Maria
Brown, Paul
Beekes, Michael
Pocchiari, Maurizio
DOI
10.1099/vir.0.010801-0
Abstract
The involvement of muscles in the pathogenesis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) is irregular and unpredictable. We show that the TSE-specific protein (PrPTSE) is present in muscles of mice fed with a mouse-adapted strain of bovine spongiform encephalopathy as early as 100 days post-infection, corresponding to about one-third of the incubation period. The proportion of mice with PrPTSE-positive muscles and the number of muscles involved increased as infection progressed, but never attained more than a limited distribution, even at the clinical stage of disease. The appearance of PrPTSE in muscles during the preclinical stage of disease was probably due to the haematogenous/lymphatic spread of infectivity from the gastrointestinal tract to lymphatic tissues associated with muscles, whereas in symptomatic animals, the presence of PrPTSE in the nervous system, in neuromuscular junctions and in muscle fibres suggests a centrifugal spread from the central nervous system, as already observed in other TSE models.