Project Number: 3625-32000-086-02
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 24, 2003
End Date: Sep 23, 2008

Objective:
To investigate 2 parameters of mouse bioassays used to differentiate TSE agents and classify them for strain typing purposes. The parameters are: 1) quantitation of infectivity in inoculum; and 2) usefulness of immunohistochemistry for lesion evaluation.

Approach:
A commercial in vitro (ELISA) test will be used to quantitate prion protein in inocula of 20 strain typing experiments to evaluate influence on attack rate and lesion profile. Immunohistochemistry will be applied to determine if localization of prion protein is strain specific.