Skip to main content
PMC home page
Molecular Medicine logoLink to Molecular Medicine
. 1999 Apr;5(4):240–243.

Infectivity of scrapie prions bound to a stainless steel surface.

E Zobeley 1, E Flechsig 1, A Cozzio 1, M Enari 1, C Weissmann 1
PMCID: PMC2230327  PMID: 10448646

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The transmissible agent of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is not readily destroyed by conventional sterilization and transmissions by surgical instruments have been reported. Decontamination studies have been carried out thus far on solutions or suspensions of the agent and may not reflect the behavior of surface-bound infectivity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: As a model for contaminated surgical instruments, thin stainless-steel wire segments were exposed to scrapie agent, washed exhaustively with or without treatment with 10% formaldehyde, and implanted into the brains of indicator mice. Infectivity was estimated from the time elapsing to terminal disease. RESULTS: Stainless steel wire (0.15 x 5 mm) exposed to scrapie-infected mouse brain homogenate and washed extensively with PBS retained the equivalent of about 10(5) LD50 units per segment. Treatment with 10% formaldehyde for 1 hr reduced this value by only about 30-fold. CONCLUSIONS: The model system we have devised confirms the anecdotal reports that steel instruments can retain CJD infectivity even after formaldehyde treatment. It lends itself to a systematic study of the conditions required to effectively inactivate CJD, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and scrapie agent adsorbed to stainless steel surfaces such as those of surgical instruments.

Full text

PDF
240

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bernoulli C., Siegfried J., Baumgartner G., Regli F., Rabinowicz T., Gajdusek D. C., Gibbs C. J., Jr Danger of accidental person-to-person transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease by surgery. Lancet. 1977 Feb 26;1(8009):478–479. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(77)91958-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Brandner S., Isenmann S., Raeber A., Fischer M., Sailer A., Kobayashi Y., Marino S., Weissmann C., Aguzzi A. Normal host prion protein necessary for scrapie-induced neurotoxicity. Nature. 1996 Jan 25;379(6563):339–343. doi: 10.1038/379339a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brown P., Gibbs C. J., Jr, Amyx H. L., Kingsbury D. T., Rohwer R. G., Sulima M. P., Gajdusek D. C. Chemical disinfection of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease virus. N Engl J Med. 1982 May 27;306(21):1279–1282. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198205273062107. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Büeler H., Aguzzi A., Sailer A., Greiner R. A., Autenried P., Aguet M., Weissmann C. Mice devoid of PrP are resistant to scrapie. Cell. 1993 Jul 2;73(7):1339–1347. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(93)90360-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. CHANDLER R. L. Encephalopathy in mice produced by inoculation with scrapie brain material. Lancet. 1961 Jun 24;1(7191):1378–1379. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(61)92008-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Collinge J., Palmer M. S., Sidle K. C., Hill A. F., Gowland I., Meads J., Asante E., Bradley R., Doey L. J., Lantos P. L. Unaltered susceptibility to BSE in transgenic mice expressing human prion protein. Nature. 1995 Dec 21;378(6559):779–783. doi: 10.1038/378779a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Collinge J., Rossor M. N., Thomas D., Frosh A., Tolley N. Diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease by measurement of S100 protein in serum. Tonsil biopsy helps diagnose new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. BMJ. 1998 Aug 15;317(7156):472–473. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Ernst D. R., Race R. E. Comparative analysis of scrapie agent inactivation methods. J Virol Methods. 1993 Feb;41(2):193–201. doi: 10.1016/0166-0934(93)90126-c. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Gibbs C. J., Jr, Asher D. M., Kobrine A., Amyx H. L., Sulima M. P., Gajdusek D. C. Transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to a chimpanzee by electrodes contaminated during neurosurgery. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1994 Jun;57(6):757–758. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.57.6.757. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hilton D. A., Fathers E., Edwards P., Ironside J. W., Zajicek J. Prion immunoreactivity in appendix before clinical onset of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Lancet. 1998 Aug 29;352(9129):703–704. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(98)24035-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Prusiner S. B., Cochran S. P., Groth D. F., Downey D. E., Bowman K. A., Martinez H. M. Measurement of the scrapie agent using an incubation time interval assay. Ann Neurol. 1982 Apr;11(4):353–358. doi: 10.1002/ana.410110406. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Scott M. R., Safar J., Telling G., Nguyen O., Groth D., Torchia M., Koehler R., Tremblay P., Walther D., Cohen F. E. Identification of a prion protein epitope modulating transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy prions to transgenic mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997 Dec 23;94(26):14279–14284. doi: 10.1073/pnas.94.26.14279. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Taylor D. M., Fraser H., McConnell I., Brown D. A., Brown K. L., Lamza K. A., Smith G. R. Decontamination studies with the agents of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and scrapie. Arch Virol. 1994;139(3-4):313–326. doi: 10.1007/BF01310794. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Taylor D. M. Inactivation of SE agents. Br Med Bull. 1993 Oct;49(4):810–821. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.bmb.a072648. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Telling G. C., Scott M., Hsiao K. K., Foster D., Yang S. L., Torchia M., Sidle K. C., Collinge J., DeArmond S. J., Prusiner S. B. Transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from humans to transgenic mice expressing chimeric human-mouse prion protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994 Oct 11;91(21):9936–9940. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.21.9936. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Molecular Medicine are provided here courtesy of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research at North Shore LIJ

RESOURCES