Journal
JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PATHOLOGY
Volume 138, Issue 4, Pages 189-196Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcpa.2008.01.004
Keywords
chronic wasting disease; prion; species barrier; transmissible spongiform encephalopathy
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Funding
- NIAID NIH HHS [K08-AI01802, N01-AI25491, R01-AI-04917] Funding Source: Medline
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Chronic wasting disease (CWD),a prion disease of North American deer, elk and moose affects both free-ranging and captive cervids. The potential host range for CWD remains uncertain. The susceptibility of the ferret to CWD was examined experimentally by administering infectious brain material by the intracerebral (IC) or oral (PO) route. Between 15 and 20 months after IC inoculation, ferrets developed neurological signs consistent with prion disease, including polyphagia, somnolence, piloerection, lordosis and ataxia. Upon first sub-passage of ferret-adapted CWD, the incubation period decreased to 5 months. Spongiform change in the neuropil was most marked in the basal ganglia, thalamus, midbrain and pons. The deposition of PrPCWD was granular and was occasionally closely associated with, or localized within, neurons. There were no plaque-like or perivascular PrP aggregates as seen in CWD-infected cervids. In western blots, the PrPCWD glycoform profile resembled that of CWD in deer, typified by a dominant diglycosylated glycoform. CWD disease in ferrets followed IC but not PO inoculation, even after 31 months of observation. These findings indicate that CWD-infected ferrets share microscopical and biochemical features of CWD in cervids, but appear to be relatively resistant to oral infection by primary CWD inoculum of deer origin. (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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