Elsevier

Virology

Volume 164, Issue 2, June 1988, Pages 537-541
Virology

Scrapie prion liposomes and rods exhibit target sizes of 55,000 Da

https://doi.org/10.1016/0042-6822(88)90569-7Get rights and content

Abstract

Scrapie is a degenerative neurologic disease in sheep and goats which can be experimentally transmitted to laboratory rodents. Considerable evidence suggests that the scrapie agent is composed largely, if not entirely, of an abnormal isoform of the prion protein (PrPSc). Inactivation of scrapie prions by ionizing radiation exhibited single-hit kinetics and gave a target size of 55,000 ± 9000 mol wt. The inactivation profile was independent of the form of the prion. Scrapie agent infectivity in brain homogenates, microsomal fractions, detergent-extracted microsomes, purified amyloid rods, and liposomes exhibited the same inactivation profile. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that the infectious particle causing scrapie contains ∼ 2 PrPSc molecules.

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    Present address: Department of Infectious Disease, School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024.

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