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Early epidemiological information indicated that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) originated from scrapie in sheep. The question arose if scrapie in North America would induce a BSE-like disease in cattle. Six years ago, we reported that brain tissue from sheep with scrapie caused a neurologic disease when injected directly into the brains of cattle, but the disease induced was different from BSE as it occurs in the United Kingdom and Europe. Here, we report that cattle fed raw brain or meat and bone meal and tallow prepared from sheep with scrapie remained normal for 8 years after exposure. This work indicates that cattle are highly resistant to North American scrapie by the oral route.

Our previous study established protein gene product 9.5 (PGP 9.5), a ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase, as a specific cytochemical marker of synovial lining cells (type B synoviocytes) in the horse joint. The present study aimed to detect PGP 9.5 in the synovial fluid and shows that PGP 9.5 is a valuable marker of osteoarthritis in the horse. Immunohistochemical staining confirmed rich and consistent localization of PGP 9.5 immunoreactivity in the cytoplasm of synovial lining cells in the normal horse joint. Western blot analysis of synovial fluid from normal joints could detect a significant band corresponding to that contained in the brain and synovial membrane extracts. When 60 synovial fluid samples from normal and abnormal joints were assayed with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system, the concentration of PGP 9.5 tended to be elevated in osteochondrosis dissecance, inflammatory arthropathy and intra-articular fracture, among which a statistiture and the control. Thus, this study demonstrated the possibility that PGP 9.5, derived from synovial lining cells, may be a new biochemical marker for arthritic disorders of the horse.

To evaluate the genetic diversity of the Xinjiang Tarim red deer (Cervus elaphus yarkandensis) population, we analyzed the frequencies of microsatellite alleles. Samples were collected from 3 isolated populations in Xaya, Lopnur and Qarqan of Xinjiang. Although 10 microsatellite loci were examined, alleles of 133 to 190 base-pairs were detected for only 3 loci: BM5004, BM4208 and BM888.The average observed multilocus heterozygosity was 0.08 +- 0.04 for the Xaya, 0 for the Lopnur, and 0.17 +- 0.08 for the Qarqan population. The average heterozygosity of all populations was 0.08 +- 0.02. The observed heterozygosities were significantly lower than the expected values. The present results suggest that the bottleneck effect has occurred in the populations ofthe Xinjiang Tarim red deer.

Chromogranin A (CgA) is an acidic glycoprotein that is co-stored with hormones or neurotransmitters in granular components of endocrine cells and neurons, and released together with them in response to adequate stimulation. In addition to acting as a packaging protein. CgA functions as a precursor molecule that yields several bioactive peptides by proteolytic cleavage. The purpose of this study is to elucidate how different the processing of CgA is among endocrine tissues by immunostaining using multiple region-specific antisera, and to evaluate the availability of region-specific antisera. When various endocrine organs of rats were immunostained with four regionspecific antisera against rat CgA (CgA 1 - 28, 94 - 130, 296 - 314, and 359 - 389), all amine / peptide-secreting endocrine tissues except the pineal body were stained positively The adrenal medulla and gastric endocrine cells were equally intensely immunoreactive to all four antisera, while the other endocrine tissues, represented by pancreatic islets, showed different staining patterns depending on the antiserum. These results suggest that the processing of CgA differs from tissue to tissue. An antiserum against horse CgA 335 - 365, corresponding to rat CgA 359 - 389 which shows the highest concentration in the plasma and urine of the rat, again stained all endocrine tissues of the horse except the pineal body. Therefore, the anti-horse CgA 335 - 365 serum is useful for immunohistochemical survey of horse CgA, and may make possible the establishment of a CgA assay system for the measurement of CgA in the plasma, urine and saliva.

Hantaviral antibodies were detected in the sera from Apodemus (A.) agrarius and A. peninsulae captured in Ningxia province, China by several different serological diagnostic methods. A total of 409 sera from rodent and insectivore species were collected in 1999 and examined by indirect immunofluorescent antibody assay (IFA). Among them, 19 of 191 (9.9%) sera of A. agrarius and 1 of 13 (7.7%) sera of A. peninsulae were positive for hantaviral antibodies. The other species (Rattus norvegicus, Mus musculus, Cricetulus triton, and Sorex cylindricauda) were negative. The reaction pattern of positive serum was characterized as scattered and granular virus antigens in the cytoplasm of hantavirus infected Vero E6 cells. Some of the A. agrarius sera positive for hantavirus were further examined by Western blotting (WB), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the focus reduction neutralization test FRNT By WB, positive sera showed the same specific reaction pattern of baculovirus-expressed recombinant hantaviral nucleocapsid protein, as shown in hantavirus-immune serum. By ELISA, IFA-positive sera showed significantly higher optical densities (around 1.0) than the negative A. agrarius sera. Hantaan type hantavirus was neutralized with the positive sera. These results suggest that A. agrarius have hantavirus infection and may play a role as a reservoir animal for hantavirus in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Province, China.