Hunter Nora
Neuropathogenesis Unit, Institute for Animal Health, Edinburgh, UK.
Br Med Bull. 2003;66:171-83. doi: 10.1093/bmb/66.1.171.
Scrapie is a natural disease of sheep, but it can also be successfully transmitted between sheep by experimental inoculation. Although BSE is primarily a disease of cattle, it has also infected humans (causing vCJD) and, in addition, can be transmitted orally to sheep bringing concerns that BSE might naturally have infected the UK sheep population. Because of this, scrapie and BSE are being compared and studied in detail in sheep. PrP genotype controls sheep susceptibility and resistance to scrapie and to BSE, and deposition of the disease-associated PrP(Sc), used as a marker of infection, has the potential to act as a means of identifying BSE-infected animals and describing different pathogenesis mechanisms. Sheep orally dosed with BSE show signs of infection in their blood and this model is of major importance in the study of the safety of blood products for use with human beings.
羊瘙痒症是绵羊的一种自然疾病，但也可通过实验接种在绵羊之间成功传播。虽然牛海绵状脑病主要是牛的疾病，但它也感染了人类（导致变异型克雅氏病），此外，还可通过口服传播给绵羊，这引发了人们对牛海绵状脑病可能已自然感染英国绵羊种群的担忧。因此，正在对绵羊中的羊瘙痒症和牛海绵状脑病进行详细比较和研究。朊蛋白基因型控制绵羊对羊瘙痒症和牛海绵状脑病的易感性和抵抗力，作为感染标志物的疾病相关朊蛋白（PrP(Sc)）的沉积，有可能作为识别感染牛海绵状脑病动物和描述不同发病机制的手段。经口接种牛海绵状脑病的绵羊血液中会出现感染迹象，该模型在研究用于人类的血液制品安全性方面具有重要意义。
