Table 1.
Prion infectivity accumulates in scrapie-exposed PrP transgenic Drosophila
| Fly line | Inoculum | Age of Drosophila inoculated into tg338 mice | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 days | 10 days | 20 days | 30 days | 40 days | |||||||
| Attack Rate | IP | Attack Rate | IP | Attack Rate | IP | Attack Rate | IP | Attack Rate | IP | ||
| 51D | Control | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 |
| PG127 | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 | |
| VRQ | Control | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 |
| PG127 | 0/6 | >250 | 0/6 | >250 | 4/6 | 103 ± 11 | 6/6 | 89 ± 3 | 6/6 | 89 ± 2 | |
Elav × VRQ(GPI) PrP transgenic (VRQ) and Elav × 51D (51D) Drosophila were exposed at the larval stage to PG127 scrapie-infected or prion-free control sheep brain material. At various times after hatching, head homogenate was prepared from harvested flies and intracerebrally inoculated into ovine PrP transgenic (tg338) mice. Inoculated mice were euthanized when they showed clinical signs of prion infection or after 250 days for those that did not develop clinical disease. Mice were considered positive for prion disease when PK-resistant PrP27–30 was detected in brain tissue by western blot. The attack rate (number of prion positive mice/total number of mice inoculated) is reported for each treatment group. The incubation period (IP) for inoculated mice, which represents the average time from inoculation to euthanasia for each inoculated group of animals, is reported in days ± SD.