Summary
Seven cell lines including glia cells from mouse brains and mouse neuroblastoma cells were infected with the mouse-adapted scrapie strain c-506. During the early in vitro passages, a stimulation of growth was already observed but cellular morphology and differentiation did not alter. Later on, after 12–16 passages, six of the seven infected lines displayed cell proliferation and morphological alterations, suggesting an in vitro morphological transformation. At this stage, differentiation was no longer observed in the scrapie-infected neuroblastoma cells and all the scrapie-infected cells formed two to four times more colonies in liquid medium than the controls, and developed large tridimensional colonies in agar. The part played by the scrapie agent in these changes is discussed.
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Supported by grants of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France, and of the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France
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Markovits, P., Dautheville, C., Dormont, D. et al. In vitro propagation of the scrapie agent. Acta Neuropathol 60, 75–80 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00685350
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00685350