Experimental Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: light microscopic, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural studies of the Fujisaki strain of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease virus in NIH Swiss mice.

Ultrastructural findings in mice terminally affected with the Fujisaki strain of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease virus are reported. Spongiform vacuolation, extensive myelin and axonal lesions and neuroaxonal dystrophy accompanied by abundant astrocytic gliosis comprise the pattern of the pathological changes at the ultrastructural level. Neuronal intranuclear inclusions and swelling of the astrocytic and dendritic processes were unspecific findings also observed in control animals.