NR AWIJ
AU Krex,C.; Grießbach,M.; Truyen,U.; Lücker,E.
TI Current analytical developments for the detection of CNS-based specified risk material (SRM)
QU International Conference - Prion 2006: Strategies, advances and trends towards protection of society - 3.10.-6.10.2006, Torino, Italy, Lingotto Conference Centre - Poster sessions RA-05
PT Konferenz-Poster
AB In the wake of the BSE-crisis, particularly after the emergence of a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, preventive measures where established for the protection against a potential human TSE exposure risk. Bovine BSE infectivity is concentrated in tissues of the central nervous system (CNS) and closely related to tissues of the peripheral nervous system. These CNS-based tissues compose the majority of the so called specified risk material (SRM), at least 95%. Until now the removal of SRM from the human and animal food chain and their innocuous disposal was given top priority. In view of infectivity titres, the legal definition of SRM includes the specification of the animal species (domestic ruminants) and age of the animal (older than e.g. 12 months) from which these tissues were derived. In addition to the SRM ban, the individual testing of bovines for the presence of PrPsc guarantees that potential contamination of meat with CNS-based SRM during slaughter would not cause any additional human exposure risk. As a reaction to the steadily decreasing incidence of BSE the European Commission proposed in its TSE-Roadmap, as a strategic goal, the reduction of BSE-tests in bovines and the increase of age limits for SRM. As both preventive measures have to be performed systematically and individually, they are extremely expensive. Thus, such a strategic goal would be welcomed widely. In prion disease research, however, many questions remain unanswered and it appears from the point of risk assessment to be unwise to reduce the existing measures without compensation. Since 1996 immunochemical methods for the detection of CNS in meat products have been developed and validated. In some countries these methods have been successfully applied to control and to ensure the SRM ban for the human food-chain. In future, such spot-check methods could compensate the reduction of primary systematic preventive measures. Here we report on the current developments in methods for the detection of CNS-based SRM. In particular we identify drawbacks of immunochemical and molecular biological methods as pertaining to stability of markers and species- / age-specificity. The development of a new analytical approach using GC/MS and certain CNScorrelated fatty acids is demonstrated. GC/MS facilitates the detection of CNS in accordance to the legal definition of specified risk material (SRM) and shows the potential to become a future reference method for CNS-based SRM detection.
AD Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany. E-mail: krex@vetmed.uni-leipzig.de
SP englisch
PO Italien