Abstract
SCRAPIE may be diagnosed rapidly in the experimental mouse by inoculating some tissue (brain, spleen, muscle, for example) into a guinea-pig and measuring the degree to which the guinea-pig lymphocytes become sensitized to scrapie mouse brain (or spleen) as compared with normal mouse brain (or spleen)1. Lymphocyte sensitization is measured by the macrophage electrophoresis migration (MEM) test2–4. This in principle depends on the observation that when lymphocytes are brought into contact with specific antigen they elaborate some material (involving protein synthesis5) which causes normal guinea-pig peritoneal macrophages to travel more slowly in an electric field. Thus normal guinea-pig macrophages are used as an indicator system for lymphocyte-antigen interaction. The percentage slowings induced by such interactions are calculated and a high percentage indicates lymphocyte sensitization to the test antigen.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Field, E. J., and Shenton, B. K., Nature 240 104 (1972).
Field, E. J., and Caspary, E. A., Lancet ii 1337 (1970).
Field, E. J., and Caspary, E. A., J. clin. Path. 24 179 (1971).
Caspary, E. A., and Field, E. J., Br. med. J. 2 613 (1971).
Caspary, E. A., Nature new Biology 231 24 (1971).
Field, E. J., and Shenton, B. K., Brain in the press.
Gibbons, R. A., and Hunter, G. D., Nature 215 1041 (1967).
Hunter, G. D., J. infect. Dis. 125 427 (1972).
Caspary, E. A., and Field, E. J., Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 122 182 (1965).
Caspary, E. A., and Field, E. J., Eur. Neurol. 4 257 (1970).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
FIELD, E., SHENTON, B. Rapid Immunological Method for Diagnosis of Natural Scrapie in Sheep. Nature 244, 96–97 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/244096a0
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/244096a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.