Photoreceptor degeneration in experimental transmissible mink encephalopathy of hamsters.

Hamsters were inoculated intracerebrally with the agent of transmissible mink encephalopathy and developed clerical signs of encephalopathy. Photoreceptor degeneration occurred in all animals examined histologically. The changes were similar to those in scrapie, although less extensive. The findings suggest that either transmissible mink encephalopathy is a mink-adapted form of scrapie or, in rodents, photoreceptor degeneration is a characteristic of infection with agents of the spongiform encephalopathies.