Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 May;138(4):189-96.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcpa.2008.01.004. Epub 2008 Apr 2.

Experimental chronic wasting disease (CWD) in the ferret

Affiliations

Experimental chronic wasting disease (CWD) in the ferret

C J Sigurdson et al. J Comp Pathol. 2008 May.

Abstract

Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disease of North American deer, elk and moose, affects both free-ranging and captive cervids. The potential host range for CWD remains uncertain. The susceptibility of the ferret to CWD was examined experimentally by administering infectious brain material by the intracerebral (IC) or oral (PO) route. Between 15 and 20 months after IC inoculation, ferrets developed neurological signs consistent with prion disease, including polyphagia, somnolence, piloerection, lordosis and ataxia. Upon first sub-passage of ferret-adapted CWD, the incubation period decreased to 5 months. Spongiform change in the neuropil was most marked in the basal ganglia, thalamus, midbrain and pons. The deposition of PrP(CWD) was granular and was occasionally closely associated with, or localized within, neurons. There were no plaque-like or perivascular PrP aggregates as seen in CWD-infected cervids. In western blots, the PrP(CWD) glycoform profile resembled that of CWD in deer, typified by a dominant diglycosylated glycoform. CWD disease in ferrets followed IC but not PO inoculation, even after 31 months of observation. These findings indicate that CWD-infected ferrets share microscopical and biochemical features of CWD in cervids, but appear to be relatively resistant to oral infection by primary CWD inoculum of deer origin.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources