[Cellular nucleic acids in serum and plasma as new diagnostic tools].

Currently, the diagnosis of bovine spongiform encephalopathy is only possible in the brain stem of dead animals. Protease resistant prions are detected in the obex region of the brain stem. However, from a veterinary medical and agricultural point of view the development of an in vivo detection assay is of utmost importance. Because infectious prions are detectable relatively late in the central nervous system during an infection, efforts are made searching for surrogate markers. Besides neuronal proteins that are released into the liquor and blood during neurodegenerative processes or other neuronal diseases, cellular nucleic acids circulating in the plasma or serum are an absolutely new approach for the detection of infectious diseases.