Studies on maternal transmission of scrapie in sheep by embryo transfer

The technique of embryo transfer was used to investigate the maternal transmission of scrapie in sheep. Embryo donor ewes were experimentally infected with scrapie (all eventually developing the disease) and artificially inseminated six months later with semen from an uninfected scrapie-susceptible ram. Embryos were harvested five and six days after insemination and transferred by laparoscopy, unwashed, into recipient ewes which had been genetically selected for very low susceptibility to scrapie. Six of the 26 lambs born to these recipients developed scrapie.