Summary
By electron microscopy tubulovesicular structures (TVS) have been consistently observed in brain tissue of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies such as natural and experimental scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy and experimentally induced, but not naturally occurring, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). For the first time we report here the presence of TVS in human brains with CJD as detected by transmission electron microscopy. TVS were observed in all three CJD specimens (two biopsies, one autopsy), but they were rare and were found only in one or two location(s) per grid. TVS were seen in distended pre- and postsynaptic terminals and measured approximately 35 nm in diameter; they were smaller and of higher electron density than synaptic vesicles. Their occurrence in all types of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies irrespective of the affected host and the strain of the infectious agent suggests their biological significance.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baringer JR, Prusiner SB (1978) Experimental scrapie in mice: ultrastructural observations. Ann Neurol 4:205–211
Baringer JR, Wong J, Klassen T, Prusiner SB (1979) Further observations on the neutopathology of experimental scrapie in mice and hamsters. In: Prusiner SB, Handlow WJ (eds) Slow transmissible diseases of the nervous system, vol 2. Academic Press, New York, pp 111–121
Baringer JR, Prusiner SB, Wong JS (1981) Scrapie-associated particles in postsynaptic processes. Further ultrastructural studies. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 40:281–288
Bignami A, Parry HB (1971) Aggregations of 35-nanometer particle associated with neuronal cytopathic changes in natural scrapie. Science 171:389–390
Caughey B, Race RE, Ernst D, Buchmeier MJ, Chesebro B (1989) Prion protein biosynthesis in scrapie-infected and uninfected neuroblastoma cells. J Virol 63:175–181
David-Ferreira JF, David Ferreira KL, Gibbs CJ Jr, Morris JA (1968) Scrapie in mice: ultrastructural observations in the cerebral cortex. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 127:313–320
Field EJ, Narang HK (1972) An electron-microscopic study of scrapie in rat: further observations on “inclusion bodies”. J Neurol Sci 17:347–364
Gajdusek DC (1977) Unconventional viruses and the origin and disappearance of kuru. Science 197:943–960
Gibson PH, Doughty LA (1989) An electron microscopic study of inclusion bodies in synaptic terminals of scrapieinfected animals. Acta Neuropathol 77:420–425
Kim JH, Manuelidis EE (1986) Serial ultrastructural study of experimental Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in guinea pigs. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 69:81–90
Kingsbury DT, Smeltzer DA, Amyx HL, Gibbs CJ Jr, Gajdusek DC (1982) Evidence for an unconventional virus in mouse-adapted Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Infect Immun 37:1050–1053
Lamar CH, Gustafson DP, Krasovich M, Hinsman EJ (1974) Ultrastructural studies of spleens, brains and brain cell cultures of mice with scrapie. Vet Pathol 11:13–19
Lampert PW, Gajdusek DC, Gibbs CJ Jr (1971) Experimental spongiform encephalopathy (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) in chimpanzees. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 30:20–32
Liberski PP, Yanagihara R, Gibbs CJ Jr, Gajdusek DC (1988) Tubulovesicular structures in experimental Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Intervirology 29:115–119
Liberski PP, Asher DM, Yanagihara R, Gibbs CJ Jr, Gajdusek DC (1989) Serial ultrastructural studies of scrapie in hamsters. J Comp Pathol 101:429–442
Liberski PP, Yanagihara R, Gibbs CJ Jr, Gajdusek DC (1990) Appearance of tubulovesicular structures in experimental Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and scrapie precedes the onset of clinical disease. Acta Neuropathol 79:349–354
Liberski PP, Yanagihara R, Wells G, Gibbs CJ Jr, Gajdusek DC (1990) Ultrastructural neuropathology of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). VIII th International Congress of Virology, Berlin, August 26–31, 1990. Abstr P28-10, p 283
Narang HK (1973) Ruthenium red and lanthanum nitrate: a possible tracer and negative stain for scrapie “particles”? Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 29:37–43
Narang HK (1988) A chronological study of experimental scrapie in mice. Virus Res 9:293
Narang HK, Chandler RL, Anger HS (1980) Further observations on particulate structures in scrapie-affected brain. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol 6:23–28
Narang HK, Asher DM, Pomeroy KL, Gajdusek DC (1987) Abnormal tubulovesicular particles in brains of hamsters with scrapie. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 184:504–509
Tateishi J, Ohta M, Koga M, Sato Y, Kuroiwa Y (1978) Transmission of chronic spongiform encephalopathy with kuru plaques from humans to rodents. Ann Neurol 24:35–40
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by the Austrian Fund for the Advancement of Scientific Research (P8196-MED), and a grant from the Polish Academy of Science (VIII/40) (to P. P. L.)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liberski, P.P., Budka, H., Sluga, E. et al. Tubulovesicular structures in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Acta Neuropathol 84, 238–243 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00227815
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00227815