Collectively, these data indicate that they harbor the same strain of agent as the cattle BSE agent.
Therefore, we further hypothesized that any MAP culture inhibition would be strain and agent specific.
Each lichen extract diminished PrP levels in BH from animals infected with each strain of agent and some were reduced below the limit of immunoblotting detection.
[27], [31], [32] Results from this study suggest the major factor here is likely to be the route of infection rather than any changes in the strain of agent.
Here we report the transmission of the FSE case 1 (the mother of case 2) into the Tg(OvPrP4) mouse model that has been demonstrated as sensitive to and efficient at detecting the BSE strain of agent [2], [15], [16].
Indeed, transmission studies of different inbred mouse strains have revealed a BSE "signature" based on incubation periods and brain vacuolar lesion profiles, indicating that the same strain of agent causes BSE and these diseases, notably FSE in domestic cats [3], [7], [8].
We hypothesized that a common strain of agent is responsible for all vCJD cases, regardless of geographic origin.
Based on the bioassay method using wild type inbred mouse lines, BSE was shown to be caused by a single strain of agent that produced a unique lesion profile and incubation period (17).
In vCJD, homogeneity of the genotype at codon 129 and the clinical and pathologic phenotype were attributed to the patients' exposure to the same prion strain, the agent of BSE.
The distribution of TSE vacuolation and PrPSc deposition in the brains of the RIII and VM mice was similar for each brain isolate examined and indicates that the same strain of agent is present in each inoculate.
More recently, comparative studies of vCJD cases from France and the United Kingdom have shown evidence from clinical, epidemiologic, pathologic, and biochemical analyses that a common strain of agent may be responsible for vCJD infection in both countries (8 ).
