Barmada Sami J, Harris David A
Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
J Neurosci. 2005 Jun 15;25(24):5824-32. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1192-05.2005.
Tg(PrP-EGFP) mice express an enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-tagged version of the prion protein (PrP) that behaves like endogenous PrP in terms of its posttranslational processing, anatomical localization, and functional activity. In this study, we describe experiments in which Tg(PrP-EGFP) mice were inoculated intracerebrally with scrapie prions. Although PrP-EGFP was incapable of sustaining prion infection in Tg(PrP-EGFP)/Prn-p(0/0) mice, it acted as a dominant-negative inhibitor that bound to, and fluorescently marked, deposits of PrPSc generated from endogenous PrP in Tg(PrP-EGFP)/Prn-p(+/+) mice. Scrapie infection of these latter animals caused a progressive accumulation of fluorescent PrP-EGFP aggregates in neuropil, axons, and prominently in the Golgi apparatus of neurons. Our results provide an entirely new picture of PrPSc localization during the course of prion infection, and they identify for the first time intracellular sites of PrPSc formation that are not well visualized with conventional immunohistochemical techniques.
转基因(PrP-EGFP)小鼠表达一种带有增强型绿色荧光蛋白(EGFP)标签的朊病毒蛋白(PrP),该蛋白在翻译后加工、解剖定位和功能活性方面与内源性PrP表现相似。在本研究中,我们描述了将羊瘙痒病朊病毒脑内接种到转基因(PrP-EGFP)小鼠体内的实验。虽然PrP-EGFP在转基因(PrP-EGFP)/Prn-p(0/0)小鼠中无法维持朊病毒感染,但它作为一种显性负性抑制剂,能与转基因(PrP-EGFP)/Prn-p(+/+)小鼠内源性PrP产生的PrPSc沉积物结合并进行荧光标记。对这些后一种动物进行羊瘙痒病感染,会导致荧光性PrP-EGFP聚集体在神经毡、轴突中逐渐积累,并且在神经元的高尔基体中显著积累。我们的结果提供了朊病毒感染过程中PrPSc定位的全新图景,并且首次确定了用传统免疫组织化学技术无法很好观察到的PrPSc形成的细胞内位点。