Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Investigating the Spreading and Toxicity of Prion-like Proteins Using the Metazoan Model Organism C. elegans
Published on: January 8, 2015
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Neurobiology and Ultrastructure Suggests Extracellular PrPSc Conversion
1VLA, Lasswade Veterinary Laboratory, Midlothian, UK.
Abstract:
The infectious cause of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), or prion diseases, is not yet clearly defined. Although minorities of researchers cling tenaciously to the virus hypothesis, the prion or protein-only hypothesis is now widely accepted by most scientists working in this field (1). When originally formulated, the protein-only hypothesis proposed that the TSE agent was an abnormal infectious form of a host-coded protein (protease-resistant protein, or prion protein) that could convert homologous normal forms of the protein into replicates of itself (2).
Related Concept Videos
Amyloid Fibrils
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining, normally used to...
Amyloid Fibrils
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining, normally used to...
Alzheimer Disease ll: Pathophysiology
Subviral Agents
Parkinson Disease ll: Pathophysiology
Alzheimer Disease l: Introduction

