Pathogenesis of scrapie in mice after intragastric infection.

Infection via the gastrointestinal tract is likely to be a natural route of scrapie infection in sheep. This paper describes the pathogenesis of the 139A strain of scrapie introduced intragastrically (i.g.) into CW mice. There was an almost immediate uptake of infectivity and onset of replication in Peyer's patches which preceded replication in spleen. Splenectomy had no effect on incubation period suggesting that, in contrast to the intraperitoneal route, the spleen plays little or no role in the pathogenesis of 139A scrapie administered intragastrically. Replication in the CNS was first detectable in the thoracic spinal cord and later in brain. The evidence is consistent with neural spread of infection from the gastrointestinal tract, via the enteric and sympathetic nervous systems to spinal cord. Neuroinvasion may be initiated either via infection of Peyer's patches or directly by infection of nerve endings in the gut wall. The latter possibility means that pathogenesis may be completely independent of the lymphoreticular system.