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Journal of Virology, May 2006, p. 4546-4556, Vol. 80, No. 9
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.80.9.4546-4556.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Prion Infection of Oral and Nasal Mucosa

Crista DeJoia, Brian Moreaux, Kimberly O'Connell, and Richard A. Bessen*

Department of Veterinary Molecular Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717

Received 10 December 2005/ Accepted 16 February 2006

Centrifugal spread of the prion agent to peripheral tissues is postulated to occur by axonal transport along nerve fibers. This study investigated the distribution of the pathological isoform of the protein (PrPSc) in the tongues and nasal cavities of hamsters following intracerebral inoculation of the HY strain of the transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME) agent. We report that PrPSc deposition was found in the lamina propria, taste buds, and stratified squamous epithelium of fungiform papillae in the tongue, as well as in skeletal muscle cells. Using laser scanning confocal microscopy, PrPSc was localized to nerve fibers in each of these structures in the tongue, neuroepithelial taste cells of the taste bud, and, possibly, epithelial cells. This PrPSc distribution was consistent with a spread of HY TME agent along both somatosensory and gustatory cranial nerves to the tongue and suggests subsequent synaptic spread to taste cells and epithelial cells via peripheral synapses. In the nasal cavity, PrPSc accumulation was found in the olfactory and vomeronasal epithelium, where its location was consistent with a distribution in cell bodies and apical dendrites of the sensory neurons. Prion spread to these sites is consistent with transport via the olfactory nerve fibers that descend from the olfactory bulb. Our data suggest that epithelial cells, neuroepithelial taste cells, or olfactory sensory neurons at chemosensory mucosal surfaces, which undergo normal turnover, infected with the prion agent could be shed and play a role in the horizontal transmission of animal prion diseases.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Veterinary Molecular Biology, P.O. Box 173610, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717. Phone: (406) 994-1563. Fax: (406) 994-4303. E-mail: rbessen{at}montana.edu.

Journal of Virology, May 2006, p. 4546-4556, Vol. 80, No. 9
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JVI.80.9.4546-4556.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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