Ionising radiation has no influence on scrapie incubation period in mice.

Scrapie has an early non-clinical stage when replication of agent occurs in lymphoreticular organs. Whole-body irradiation failed to alter the incubation or neuropathology of the disease. Many experiments were carried out with different strains of scrapie agent and host, doses and timing of irradiation. The results suggest that mitotically quiescent cells are involved in agent replication.