Coexistence of two forms of disease-associated prion protein in extracerebral tissues of cattle infected with H-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Abstract

H-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy (H-BSE) is an atypical form of BSE in aged cattle. H-BSE is characterized by the presence of two proteinase K-resistant forms of disease-associated prion protein (PrP(Sc)), identified as PrP(Sc) #1 and PrP(Sc) #2, in the brain. To investigate the coexistence of different PrP(Sc) forms in the extracerebral tissues of cattle experimentally infected with H-BSE, immunohistochemical and molecular analyses were performed by using N-terminal-, core-region- and C-terminal-specific anti-prion protein antibodies. Our results demonstrated that two distinct forms of PrP(Sc) coexisted in the various extracerebral tissues.