Comparative analysis of scrapie agent inactivation methods.

A scrapie-infected hamster brain homogenate was subjected to several different potential inactivation methods. Methods included autoclaving for various lengths of time, either alone or in combination with different concentrations of sodium hydroxide or LpH, an aqueous acid phenolic derivative (Calgon Vestal Laboratories in St. Louis, MO). Inactivation treatments utilizing either NaOH or LpH alone were also evaluated. It was determined that several of the treatments inactivated all of the detectable infectivity.