New data on mad cow disease

2005/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biologia
• Osasuna

A team of researchers from the University of Navarra has found prions in the digestive system of three animal species: the pyrenean cow, the primate and the rat. The research describes for the first time the exact location of healthy prions (PrPc).

Prions are proteins and are the main agents of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy. In prion diseases the pathogenic form (PrPsc) of the common protein (PrPc) that appears in mammals is accumulated in the brain. This pathogenic prion is the main cause of mad cow disease.

For the development of the disease, the presence of PrPc in tissues is essential. Although there are several ways to introduce the pathogen agent within the organism, the main one is the oral route, that is, the one derived from the ingestion of contaminating foods. However, when you eat contaminated meat, the pathogenic prion does not grow by itself, but when it is associated with a healthy prion it transforms it.

Today they still do not know how this process occurs, that is, how the protein gets through the digestive wall, contact the PrPc, transform and finally reach the brain to cause damage. To describe this process it is essential to know the location of the PrPc in the digestive wall. And this has been based on the work of the research team.