Figure 5. Neuropathological and biochemical changes in scrapie infected mice at terminal stage. The most severe spongiform alterations were found into the hippocampus, thalamus and septum (H&E), without significant difference between AAV9-scFvD18 treated and untreated animals (A). Scale bar = 2μm (all microphotographs are at the same magnification). The hippocampus, enthorinal cortex, caudate/putamen nuclei and thalamus of scFvD18 treated mice (B) disclosed less PK-resistant PrP^Sc immunoreactivity (6H4) than untreated mice (arrows indicate areas with most evident differences). Western blot analysis (C) with anti-PrP antibody (6H4) of PK-digested brain homogenates from AAV9-scFvD18 treated and untreated mice and the relevant densitometric analysis (D) demonstrate statistically significant lower levels of PK-resistant PrP^Sc amount in the brain of AAV9-scFvD18 treated mice (p = 0.0154; double tailed, unpaired, t-test).