Transmission of BASE to Tgbov XV mice following inoculation of muscles from experimentally and naturally affected cattle.

<p>(A) Lesion profiles of mice infected with brain tissue from natural BASE (blue line) and BSE (green line), <i>longissimus dorsi</i> muscle from experimental BASE (red line) and <i>intercostalis</i> (bordeaux line) and <i>gluteus</i> (yellow line) muscles from natural BASE. Vacuolation was scored on a scale of 0–5 in the following brain areas: 1, dorsal medulla; 2, cerebellar cortex; 3, superior colliculus; 4, hypothalamus; 5, thalamus; 6, hippocampus; 7, septum; 8, retrosplenial and adjacent motor cortex; and 9, cingulated and adjacent motor cortex. Data are mean ± s.e.m. (B) Western blot analysis of proteinase K-digested brain samples of mice infected with brain homogenates from cattle with natural BASE (#12966/07) and BSE, <i>longissimus dorsi</i> muscle from cattle with experimental BASE (#995) and two different muscles from natural BASE (#12699/07). (C–M) Neuropathological changes of mice infected with brain (C–E) and muscle from cattle with experimental BASE (F–H), and muscle from cattle with natural BASE (I–M). Micrographs were obtained from corresponding areas of the thalamic region stained with haematoxylin-eosin (C,F,I) or labeled with the anti-PrP antibody 6H4. The severity of vacuolation and the type of PrP deposition, characterized by diffuse immunostaining of the neuropil with focal enhancement, is similar in all the samples analyzed. Scale bar = 100 µm.