[Characteristics of the etiological agent of human amyotrophic leukospongiosis].

Primary cultures of brain cells from a patient with amyotrophic leukospongiosis (ALSP) and animals with the experimentally reproduced disease yielded an agent which by its physicochemical and molecular biological properties was placed among nonclassical viruses, the agents of spongiform encephalopathies. The agent is small and resistant to a number of detergents, lipid solvents, oxidants, enzymes, UV irradiation, and heating. The role of the isolate in the development of ALSP is verified by experimental reproduction of the disease in guinea pigs inoculated either with a brain suspension from ALSP patient or with the purified and concentrated agent. The true nature of ALSP in experimentally inoculated animals was verified by clinical, morphological, and virological studies.