[Development of laboratory diagnostic methods for slow infections of the human central nervous system caused by...

The theoretical foundations of the laboratory diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and amyotrophic leukospongiosis in living patients are discussed and practical diagnostic methods are proposed on the basis of the study of the biological properties of nonclassical viruses and the pathogenesis of slow infections of the central nervous system. The use of the retrobulbar method of infecting susceptible animals has permitted, besides a considerable decrease in the incubation period in modeling slow infections, the improvement of the in vivo biological test. Thus, as the result of the multiplication of non-classical viruses in the visual nerve and the retina, experimental animals develop retinopathy which can be detected 1.5-2.5 weeks after the animals are injected with the spinal fluid or blood taken from the patient under examination. To diagnose amyotrophic leukospongiosis, the in vitro biological test, based on the capacity of the causative agent for inducing a considerable (2- to 5-fold) increase in the mitotic activity of HEp-2 cells, has been developed. The comparative studies have shown the expediency of using the method for the detection of antibodies to nerve-fiber proteins as an additional test for the differential diagnosis of slow infections of the central nervous system.