For a comparative molecular study of prion typing, frozen brains were collected by the NPDPSC from genetic prion disease (gPrD) E200K-129 V (n = 4), E200K-129M (n = 3), sCJDMM1 (n = 1) and sCJDVV2 (n = 1).
Tissues (trachea, lung, kidney, bursa, liver, and brain) were collected and fixed by immersion in 10% neutral formalin at room temperature for 48 h.
Blood and brain were collected and bacterial loads were determined by CFU, serial dilutions plated on agar.
From October 2005 to July 2006, 2887 brain specimens were collected by the local CDC.
Structural brain images were collected by three-dimensional T1-weighted magnetization prepared rapid gradient echo (MP-RAGE) sequence with TR = 2300 ms, TE = 2.92 ms, field of view of 256 × 256 mm, 256 × 256 matrix size, 176 sagittal slices, and 1 mm isotropic voxel size.
For coregistration, 176 sagittal whole-brain scans were collected by 3-D magnetization-prepared rapid gradient-echo imaging (MPRAGE), with TR = 1970 ms, TE = 3.93 ms, a flip angle = 15°, slice thickness = 1.70 mm, slice interval = 0.85 mm, FOV = 250 × 250 mm, and a matrix = 448 × 512.
Brain tissues originating from 134 control Caucasian individuals were collected by the Medical Research Council MRCC) Sudden Death Brain and Tissue Bank (Edinburgh, UK).
At selected time intervals, blood samples and the brains were collected and analyzed by UV spectrophotometer.
The remaining 11 matched pairs were not included in that earlier study, but were collected by the same brain bank and subjected to the same diagnostic criteria and inclusion/exclusion criteria as previously described [19].
