Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 64 (1), 81-84, 2011
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Short Communication
Atypical L-Type Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (L-BSE) Transmission to Cynomolgus Macaques, a Non-Human Primate
Fumiko Ono, Naomi Tase1, Asuka Kurosawa3, Akio Hiyaoka, Atsushi Ohyama, Yukio Tezuka, Naomi Wada2, Yuko Sato3, Minoru Tobiume3, Ken'ichi Hagiwara4, Yoshio Yamakawa4*, Keiji Terao1, and Tetsutaro Sata3
The Corporation for Production and Research of Laboratory Primates, Tsukuba 305-0843; 1Tsukuba Primate Research Center, National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, Tsukuba 305-0843; 2Department of Veterinary Medicine, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi 753-8515; and 3Department of Pathology and 4Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan
(Received December 9, 2010. Accepted December 22, 2010)
*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Toyama 1-23-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan. Tel: +81-3-5285-1111 ext. 2127, Fax: +81-3-5285-1157, E-mail: yamakawa@nih.go.jp
SUMMARY: A low molecular weight type of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (L-BSE) was transmitted to two cynomolgus macaques by intracerebral inoculation of a brain homogenate of cattle with atypical BSE detected in Japan. They developed neurological signs and symptoms at 19 or 20 months post-inoculation and were euthanized 6 months after the onset of total paralysis. Both the incubation period and duration of the disease were shorter than those for experimental transmission of classical BSE (C-BSE) into macaques. Although the clinical manifestations, such as tremor, myoclonic jerking, and paralysis, were similar to those induced upon C-BSE transmission, no premonitory symptoms, such as hyperekplexia and depression, were evident. Most of the abnormal prion protein (PrPSc) was confined to the tissues of the central nervous system, as determined by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. The PrPSc glycoform that accumulated in the monkey brain showed a similar profile to that of L-BSE and consistent with that in the cattle brain used as the inoculant. PrPSc staining in the cerebral cortex showed a diffuse synaptic pattern by immunohistochemistry, whereas it accumulated as fine and coarse granules and/or small plaques in the cerebellar cortex and brain stem. Severe spongiosis spread widely in the cerebral cortex, whereas florid plaques, a hallmark of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, were observed in macaques inoculated with C-BSE but not in those inoculated with L-BSE.