Pancreatic lesions and hypoglycemia-hyperinsulinemia in scrapie-injected hamsters.

Hamsters injected intracerebrally with scrapie strains 139H or 22CH or with normal hamster brain were assessed for body weight periodically throughout the incubation period. Animals injected with the scrapie strains became obese before the appearance of the motor changes that are indicative of the start of clinical disease. During the latter part of the incubation period and during clinical disease, animals were hypoglycemic and showed marked hyperinsulinemia. At autopsy, there was marked hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the cells of the islets of Langerhans. Thyroid, adrenal glands, liver, and kidney also were enlarged. The data suggest a severe endocrinopathy and point to new areas of pathologic and clinical changes that can be assigned to unconventional slow infections.