Resistance of domestic cats to a US sheep scrapie agent by intracerebral route

• Published in: Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation Vol. 14; no. 5; pp. 444 - 445
• Main Authors: Hamir, AN, Clark, WW, Sutton, DL, Miller, JM, Stack, MJ, Chaplin, MJ, Jenny, AL
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA J Vet Diagn Invest 01-09-2002; SAGE Publications; American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians
• Subjects: Animals; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Blotting, Western; Cat Diseases - chemically induced; Cat Diseases - transmission; Cats; Experimental mycoses and models; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Immunohistochemistry; Infectious diseases; Injections, Intraventricular; Male; Medical sciences; Microbiology; Mycoses; Prion Diseases - chemically induced; Prion Diseases - transmission; Prion Diseases - veterinary; PrPSc Proteins - administration & dosage; PrPSc Proteins - pharmacology; Sheep Diseases - transmission; Sheep, Domestic; Species Specificity; United States; Vaccines, antisera, therapeutical immunoglobulins and monoclonal antibodies; United States; Immunohistochemistry; Nervous system diseases; Bovine; Scrapie; Protein; Cerebral disorder; Infection; Resistance; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Central nervous system disease; Immunoblotting assay; Sheep; Degenerative disease; Prion; Artiodactyla; Spongiform encephalopathy; Veterinary; Ungulata; Age; Food
• ISSN: 1040-6387; 1943-4936
• DOI: 10.1177/104063870201400519

National Animal Disease Center, ARS, USDA, Ames, IA 50010, USA.
Feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE) is thought to have resulted from consumption of food contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy and the latter is believed to result from the consumption of food contaminated with scrapie. However, no direct experimental documentation exists to indicate that the scrapie agent is capable of amplifying in cats, and, therefore, crossing the species barrier. During 1979, 6 cats ranging in age from 3.5 to 18 months were intracerebrally inoculated with sheep scrapie (inoculum G-639-PP) and were observed for an extended period. Inoculated cats did not develop neurologic disease, and microscopic lesions of spongiform encephalopathy were not evident. Immunohistochemistry and Western blot techniques failed to detect the abnormal form of prion protein (PrP(res)). These results indicate that the sheep scrapie agent (G-639-PP) used in this study was not capable of amplifying in cats and therefore was unable to cross the species barrier to produce FSE.