Lezmi Stéphane, Bencsik Anna, Baron Thierry
Agence Française de Sécurité Sanitaire des Aliments, Unité ATNC 31, avenue Tony Garnier 69364, Lyon cedex 07, France.
J Histochem Cytochem. 2006 Oct;54(10):1087-94. doi: 10.1369/jhc.5A6892.2006. Epub 2006 May 30.
Identification of the strain of agent responsible for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) can be made histologically through the analysis of both distribution and intensity of brain vacuolar lesions after BSE transmission to mouse. Another useful way to distinguish the BSE agent from other prion strains is the study of the distribution of the abnormal prion protein (PrP(res)). For that purpose, paraffin-embedded tissue blot (PET-blot) method was applied on brains from C57Bl/6 mice infected with cattle BSE, experimental sheep BSE, or feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE) from a cheetah. PrP(res) distribution was comparable, whichever of the three BSE agent sources was considered and was distinct from the PrP(res) distribution in C57Bl/6 mice inoculated with a French scrapie isolate or with a mouse-adapted scrapie strain (C506M3). These data confirm a common origin of infectious agent responsible for the British and French cattle BSE. They also indicate that PET-blot method appears as a precise complementary tool in prion strain studies because it offers easy and quick assessment of the PrP(res) mapping. Advantages and limits of the PET-blot method are discussed and compared with other established and validated methods of strain typing.
通过将牛海绵状脑病（BSE）传播给小鼠后，对脑空泡病变的分布和强度进行分析，可从组织学上鉴定引发BSE的病原体菌株。将异常朊病毒蛋白（PrP(res)）的分布研究作为区分BSE病原体与其他朊病毒菌株的另一种有效方法。为此，采用石蜡包埋组织印迹（PET印迹）法，对感染牛BSE、实验性绵羊BSE或猎豹的猫海绵状脑病（FSE）的C57Bl/6小鼠的脑组织进行检测。无论考虑三种BSE病原体来源中的哪一种，PrP(res)的分布都是可比的，并且与接种法国羊瘙痒病分离株或小鼠适应羊瘙痒病菌株（C506M3）的C57Bl/6小鼠中的PrP(res)分布不同。这些数据证实了引发英国和法国牛BSE的病原体具有共同起源。它们还表明，PET印迹法是朊病毒菌株研究中一种精确的补充工具，因为它能轻松快速地评估PrP(res)图谱。文中讨论了PET印迹法的优缺点，并与其他已确立和验证的菌株分型方法进行了比较。
