Abstract
THE nature of the scrapie agent has been obscure for many years. It is not known whether it is a virus in a strict sense, some replicating agent which is devoid of nucleic acid1,2, or a transmissible self-replicating cellular membrane3,4. In previous experiments with the Chandler strain of the scrapie agent, numerous 14-nm virus-like particles were isolated5 from infected mouse brains using repeated fluorocarbon extraction procedures which have been used for the isolation of Aleutian disease virus from infected mink tissues6,7. The present experiments were designed; first, to determine if similar 14-nm virus-like particles could be isolated from hamster brains infected with scrapie agent; and second, to determine if the 14-nm virus-like particles induce scrapie in mice and hamsters.
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CHO, H. Is the scrapie agent a virus?. Nature 262, 411–412 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/262411a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/262411a0
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