J Comp Pathol. 2008 Apr 1 [Epub ahead of print]
Experimental Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the Ferret.

Sigurdson CJ, Mathiason CK, Perrott MR, Eliason GA, Spraker TR,Glatzel
M, Manco G, Bartz JC, Miller MW, Hoover EA.
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, College of
Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University,
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1619, USA; Institute of Neuropathology,
University Hospital of Zurich, Schmelzbergstrasse 12, CH-8091, Zurich,
Switzerland.

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.
PMID: 18387626 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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