TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the Ferret
AU - Sigurdson, C. J.
AU - Mathiason, C. K.
AU - Perrott, M. R.
AU - Eliason, G. A.
AU - Spraker, T. R.
AU - Glatzel, M.
AU - Manco, G.
AU - Bartz, J. C.
AU - Miller, M. W.
AU - Hoover, E. A.
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge Julia Granowsky and the Laboratory Animal Resources staff for excellent ferret care and we thank Michelle Murray for neurological evaluation of ferrets. We thank Sam Hendrix for necropsy support and Robert Zink and Bruce Cummings for histotechnology support. This work was supported by grants and contracts: Colorado Division of Wildlife, NIH, NIAID, RO1-AI-04917 and NO1-AI25491 (EAH), NIH K08-AI01802 (CJS), and the US National Prion Research Program (DAMD17-03-1-0320) (CJS).
PY - 2008/5
Y1 - 2008/5
N2 - Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disease of North American deer, elk and moose, affects both free-ranging and captive cervids. The potential host range for CWD remains uncertain. The susceptibility of the ferret to CWD was examined experimentally by administering infectious brain material by the intracerebral (IC) or oral (PO) route. Between 15 and 20 months after IC inoculation, ferrets developed neurological signs consistent with prion disease, including polyphagia, somnolence, piloerection, lordosis and ataxia. Upon first sub-passage of ferret-adapted CWD, the incubation period decreased to 5 months. Spongiform change in the neuropil was most marked in the basal ganglia, thalamus, midbrain and pons. The deposition of PrPCWD was granular and was occasionally closely associated with, or localized within, neurons. There were no plaque-like or perivascular PrP aggregates as seen in CWD-infected cervids. In western blots, the PrPCWD glycoform profile resembled that of CWD in deer, typified by a dominant diglycosylated glycoform. CWD disease in ferrets followed IC but not PO inoculation, even after 31 months of observation. These findings indicate that CWD-infected ferrets share microscopical and biochemical features of CWD in cervids, but appear to be relatively resistant to oral infection by primary CWD inoculum of deer origin.
AB - Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disease of North American deer, elk and moose, affects both free-ranging and captive cervids. The potential host range for CWD remains uncertain. The susceptibility of the ferret to CWD was examined experimentally by administering infectious brain material by the intracerebral (IC) or oral (PO) route. Between 15 and 20 months after IC inoculation, ferrets developed neurological signs consistent with prion disease, including polyphagia, somnolence, piloerection, lordosis and ataxia. Upon first sub-passage of ferret-adapted CWD, the incubation period decreased to 5 months. Spongiform change in the neuropil was most marked in the basal ganglia, thalamus, midbrain and pons. The deposition of PrPCWD was granular and was occasionally closely associated with, or localized within, neurons. There were no plaque-like or perivascular PrP aggregates as seen in CWD-infected cervids. In western blots, the PrPCWD glycoform profile resembled that of CWD in deer, typified by a dominant diglycosylated glycoform. CWD disease in ferrets followed IC but not PO inoculation, even after 31 months of observation. These findings indicate that CWD-infected ferrets share microscopical and biochemical features of CWD in cervids, but appear to be relatively resistant to oral infection by primary CWD inoculum of deer origin.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jcpa.2008.01.004
DO - 10.1016/j.jcpa.2008.01.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 18387626
AN - SCOPUS:41849115510
VL - 138
SP - 189
EP - 196
JO - Journal of Comparative Pathology
JF - Journal of Comparative Pathology
SN - 0021-9975
IS - 4
ER -