Prion histopathology and vacuolation after RML6 inoculation in control and BBB-compromised mice.

(A) Hematoxylin/eosin stained sections from the cerebella of prion-inoculated (RML6) terminally sick (or control, normal brain homogenate (NBH) inoculated mice) Pdgfbwt/wt, Pdgfbwt/ret, Pdgfbret/ret animals. i.c.–intracerebral, i.p.–intraperitoneal, i.v.–intravenous. Quantification of number of vacuoles (B) and area in pixels covered by vacuoles (C) in cortex per field of view (FOV) in terminally sick Pdgfbwt/wt, Pdgfbwt/ret, Pdgfbret/ret mice showed similar extent of vacuolation (inoculation route—intravenous, dose—3 log LD50) (one-way ANOVA, Tukey’s multiple comparison test, p = 0.51 (B), p = 0.55 (C). Shown are means ±SD of biological replicates (N = 3–6). Scale bar: 10 μm.