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M J Stack

Publications and source records attributed to M J Stack.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Natural scrapie: detection of fibrils in extracts from the central nervous system of sheep.

Extracts from the cervical spinal cord and from the medulla, thalamus, cerebellum and cerebral cortex of the brains of 10 sheep, histopathologically confirmed as cases of scrapie, were examined by electron microscopy for the presence of scrapie-associated fibrils. Characteristic fibrils were observed in all the extracts except for that from the thalamus of one sheep. No fibrils were found in any extracts from three control sheep. A comparison of these results with a similar study of 22 cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) suggests that in cases of scrapie the area of the brain chosen for the detection of fibrils is less critical than in cases of BSE, in which fibrils are more readily extracted from areas of the brain stem.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy: detection and quantitation of fibrils, fibril protein (PrP) and vacuolation in brain.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a new disease of cattle which has considerable homology with scrapie, the archetype of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Abnormal brain fibrils, called scrapie associated fibrils (SAF), are specific ultrastructural markers for these diseases. Fibril detection was compared with histopathological diagnosis in the brains of 167 cattle; 157 clinically suspect BSE and 10 clinically normal. Fibrils were detected in samples of pooled brain regions of 67/144 in which vacuolar changes of BSE were confirmed, but absent in the remaining 23 brains, in which no vacuolation was found, including those from the clinically normal cattle and 13 with alternative neuropathological diagnoses. When eight defined anatomic regions from the brains of another 22 affected cows were examined, the sensitivity of fibril detection was greater than 90% for the brain stem areas. Fibril prevalence in these areas approximated to severity of vacuolar changes. When the same defined regions from four of the affected cows were assayed for fibril protein (PrP) by western blotting, the density of immuno-labelling generally correlated with the fibril prevalence. This study confirms the specificity of fibril detection for BSE, shows that the ease of fibril detection depends on anatomic region sampled and suggests an association between PrP accumulation and vacuolar changes in certain neuroanatomic areas.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Fibrils from brains of cows with new cattle disease contain scrapie-associated protein.

During the past two years, more than 1,000 cases of a neurological disorder of cattle, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), have been confirmed from farms throughout Great Britain. The neurological signs and brain pathology of BSE resemble those produced in other species by the pathogens of scrapie and related disorders. The discovery of fibrils similar to scrapie-associated fibrils in detergent extracts o BSE-affected brain supported the clinical and pathological diagnosis of the disease, but has been controversial. Scrapie-associated fibrils are found in brain extracts of all species affected by scrapie and diseases caused by related pathogens. They are pathological aggregates of a neuronal membrane protein termed PrP and a protease-resistant form of PrP is a molecular marker of scrapie-associated fibrils. In this report, we show the major protein of BSE fibrils is the bovine homologue of PrP as judged by its size, protease resistance, immunoreactivity, lectin binding and partial N-terminal protein sequence. This confirms that BSE is a scrapie-like disease.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1977

Bovine lymphocytes: enhanced E-rosette formation after storage or gradient centrifugation.

Incubation of bovine thymus lymphocytes with SRBCs for 1 hr or more at 0 degrees C during the E-rosette test gave higher rosette counts than tests receiving no such incubation. Further enhancement was seen if lymphocytes were stored in foetal calf serum (FCS) or BSA solutions at 4 degrees C for 18 hr prior to rosette tests. Best enhancement due to storage in BSA was seen when cells were subsequently tested in FCS. However, after storage in BSA many rosettes occurred when tests were done in BSA, Albeit few rosettes occurred in BSA without prior storage. Less enhancement was seen after storage in sodium metrizoate (NaM). Enhancement in FCS and 10% BSA occurred after 1 day, but not 2 or more days, of storage at 4 degrees C, but was not seen when cells were stored at 37 degrees C. Rosette formation was about doubled by centrifugation of lymphocytes through BSA gradients prior to rosette tests; centrifugation through NaM gradients had no such effect. It is suggested that rosette formation is a property of an immature bovine T cell, and that on storage some cells develop and subsequently lose the ability to form rosettes.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Bovine lymphocytes: recognition of cells forming spontaneous (E) rosettes.

About 20% of thymus lymphocytes from neonatal calves formed spontaneous (E) rosettes with SRBCs in medium consisting of 50-100% foetal calf serum (FCS); other media were less satisfactory. FCS was necessary both to allow rosette formation to occur and to maintain stability of the rosettes once formed. Rosettes were stable at 0 degrees C but unstable at 18 degrees C and 37 degrees C. Dead thymus cell (sodium azide treated) did not form rosettes. Treatment of thymus cells with antiserum to bovine Ig-inhibited rosette formation, but this inhibition was considered non-specific since it also occurred with normal rabbit serum. Treatment of SRBCs with neuraminidase slightly enhanced rosette formation by thymus cells, but did not induce peripheral blood lymphocytes to form rosettes. Rosette formation did not occur under a variety of conditions with normal or neuraminidase-treated human, horse, pig, rabbit, guinea-pig, chicken or autologous RBCs. SRBC rosette forming cells were also found in lymph nodes (2-14%) and spleen (less than 5%), but rarely or never in peripheral blood and bone marrow of calves and adults. In foetuses at 80 days of gestation, 49% of thymus cells formed E rosettes. Foetal lymph node cells formed E rosettes at 160 days and spleen at 180 days. Cells with membrane-bound Ig were observed by IFT; their distribution did not coincide with the occurrence of E rosettes. E-rosette formation might be a marker for a subpopulation of bovine T cells.

Animals↗