NR AXFW
AU Scherbel,C.; Pichner,R.; Groschup,M.H.; Mueller-Hellwig,S.; Scherer,S.; Dietrich,R.; Maertlbauer,E.; Gareis,M.
TI Infectivity of scrapie prion protein (PrPsc) following in vitro digestion with bovine gastrointestinal microbiota
QU Zoonoses and Public Health 2007; 54(5): 185-90
PT journal article; research support, non-u.s. gov't
AB The influence of a complex microflora residing in the gastrointestinal tract of cattle on the prion protein plays a crucial role with respect to early pathogenesis and the potential infectivity of faeces resulting in contamination of the environment. It is unknown whether infectious prion proteins, considered to be very stable, are inactivated by microbial processes in the gastrointestinal tract of animals during digestion. In our previous study it was shown that the scrapie-associated prion protein was degraded by ruminal and colonic microbiota of cattle, as indicated by a loss of anti-prion antibody 3F4 immunoreactivity in Western blot. Subsequently, in this study hamster bioassays with the pre-treated samples were performed. Although the PrPsc signal was reduced up to immunochemically undetectable levels within 40 h of pre-treatment, significant residual prion infectivity was retained after degradation of infected hamster brain through the gastrointestinal microflora of cattle. The data presented here show that the loss of anti-prion antibody 3F4 immunoreactivity is obviously not correlated with a biological inactivation of PrPsc. These results highlight the deficiency of using Western blot in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies inactivation assessment studies and, additionally, point to the possibility of environmental contamination with faeces containing PrPsc following an oral ingestion of prions.
IN Nachdem sie per Western blot in vitro durch Rindermagendarmflora einen Abbau von Scrapie-Infektiosität unter die Nachweisgrenze beobachtet hatten, publizierten Scherbel et al. im Jahr 2007 die deutlich weniger eindeutigen Ergebnisse der Bioassays. Demnach führte der biolgische PrPsc-Abbau durch die Mikroben im Verdauungssystem des Rindes nicht zu einem auch nur annähernden Verlust der Infektiosität.
MH Animals; Bacteria/*metabolism; Cattle; Colon/*microbiology; Cricetinae; *Digestion; Encephalopathy, Bovine Spongiform/metabolism/*transmission; PrPsc Proteins/*metabolism/pathogenicity; Rumen/*microbiology
AD Institute for Microbiology and Toxicology, Federal Research Centre for Nutrition and Food, Kulmbach, Germany.
SP englisch
PO Deutschland