TABLE 3.
Effect of congruent Trichuris muris infection on oral prion disease pathogenesis
| Mouse treatment | Characteristic T. muris-mediated pathology in LI mucosa | Mean prion disease incubation period (days ± SE) | Incidence of: |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical diseaseb | Histopathological signs of prion disease in the brainc | |||
| Prions alone | None | 343 ± 9 | 8/8 | 8/8 |
| T. muris infection, followed by prions at daya: | ||||
| 0 | None | 350 ± 7 | 7/7 | 7/7 |
| +7 | Syncytial tunnels in epithelium | 356 ± 12 | 7/7 | 7/7 |
| +21 | Influx of intraepithelial macrophages | 356 ± 13 | 8/8 | 8/8 |
| +42 | 7 days after expulsion of T. muris | 347 ± 4 | 7/7 | 7/7 |
a
Mice were orally infected with T. muris and then were orally exposed to ME7 scrapie prions after the indicated number of days.
b
No. of animals displaying clinical signs of prion disease/no. of animals tested.
c
No. of animals with histopathological signs of prion disease in the brain (vacuolation in the neuropil and PrPSc accumulation)/no. of animals tested.