In situ spectroscopic investigation of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies: Application of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy to a scrapie-hamster model

摘要

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), such as BSE in cattle, scrapie in sheep and goats, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in man are a group of fatal infectious diseases of the central nervous system that are far from being fully understood. Presuming the pathological changes to originate from small disease-specific compositional and structural modifications at the molecular level, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy can be used to achieve insight into biochemical parameters underlying pathogenesis. We have developed an FTIR microspectroscopy-based strategy which, as a combination of image reconstruction and multivariate pattern recognition methods, permitted the comparison of identical substructures in the cerebellum of healthy and TSE-infected Syrian hamsters in the terminal stage of the disease. Here we present FTIR data about the pathological changes of scrapie-infected and normal tissue of the gray matter structures stratum granulosum and stratum moleculare. IR spectroscopy was also applied to tissue pieces of the medulla oblongata of infected and control Syrian hamsters. Mapping data were analyzed with cluster analysis and imaging methods. We found variations in the spectra of the infected tissue, which are due to changes in carbohydrates, nucleic acids, phospholipids, and proteins.