Amyloid plaques in the brains of mice with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

By intracerebral inoculation with the brain homogenates from 9 patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, amyloid plaques were induced in mouse brains after incubation periods of 403 to 835 days. The plaques existed mainly in the cerebral white matter beneath the lateral ventricle walls and were more numerous in the hemisphere where injection was made. Morphological findings of the plaques were almost identical to those seen in patients with kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and in animals with scrapie. They were also similar to the cores of senile plaques seen in patients with Alzheimer's disease.