Scrapie-associated tubulofilamentous particles in scrapie hamsters

Examination of thin sections from the cerebral cortex of scrapie-infected hamster brains revealed characteristic circular 26-30 nm diameter tubulofilamentous particles, identical to those previously described in both experimentally induced scrapie in mice, hamsters and natural scrapie of sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy and human Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and mice and chimpanzees infected with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Longitudinal forms of tubulofilamentous particles were also observed in dendrites and myelinated axons. Both transverse and longitudinally cut particles were readily distinguished from microtubules and synaptic vesicles, thus there appears to be no relationship between tubulofilamentous particles, and microtubules or synaptic vesicles.