The molecular mechanisms of scrapie encephalopathy and relevance to human neurodegenerative disease.

We have investigated alterations in the structure and function of nuclei isolated from normal and pathological brains in a number of neurodegenerative diseases including scrapie and Alzheimer's disease. Here we summarize both general and specific changes in chromatin structure, gene expression, and neuropathological features for each encephalopathy and compare them in terms of their molecular biological similarities and differences. While both scrapie and Alzheimer's disease share a number of common alterations in genomic organization and gene activity during the pathogenic process, each neurological disease appears to operate on fundamentally different mechanisms.