NR AOUN
AU Katamine,S.; Nishida,N.; Nakao,S.; Niwa,M.
TI Role of blood-brain barrier in infection by TSE agents
QU International Conference - Prion diseases: from basic research to intervention concepts - TSE-Forum, 08.10.-10.10.2003, Gasteig, München - Poster session - BR-85
PT Konferenz-Poster
AB The nature of the infectious agent responsible for TSEs, the so-called prion diseases, is still not completely understood, even though the protein-only hypothesis (prion theory) is now widely supported because conformational changes in cellular prion protein (PrPc) indeed play a central role in the pathogensis of TSEs. In addition, it is not yet understood how the agent penetrates into the CNS. Most popular is the peripheral route of infection, in which the agent primarily replicates in dendritic cells in the gut and spleen, and then travels to the CNS via peripheral nerves. However, infectivity has also been reported in circulating blood, but it is not yet clear how the agent could go through the BBB. Although it is generally believed that the infectious agent exists entirely within the cell membrane, we found that cell-free agents also exist in the culture media of prion-infected cells established in our lab. The BBB model in our culture was reconstructed using isolated endothelial cells, pericytes, and astrocytes from adult-mouse brains, and represents to some degree the function of the BBB. Using cell-free agents, we tested (1) if they were capable of infecting endothelial cells, and (2) whether or not individual agents could pass through the BBB.
AD Shigeru Katamine, Noriyuki Nishida, Shinobu Nakao, Masami Niwa, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Japan
SP englisch
PO Deutschland