Clusterin shortens the incubation and alters the histopathology of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in mice.

Clusterin accumulates in significant quantity in prion protein lesions associated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and we therefore sought to elucidate its ability to alter BSE pathogenesis and incubation time by comparison of wild type C57BL/6J mice and clusterin knock out (ko) mice. The ko mice had a 40 day increase in mean incubation time compared to wild type mice. PrP deposition in the medulla was less aggregated in clusterin knock out mice when compared to wild type BSE infected mice and a more marked astrocytosis, as determined by GFAP staining, was evident. The vacuolation profiles did not differ between the two strains of mice. Taken together these results suggest that clusterin alters the extracellular deposition of PrP(BSE) and accelerates BSE pathogenesis.