Table 1.
Study design to investigate CWD vertical/maternal transmission.
Figure 1.
PrPCWD detection in CerTgPrP mice inoculated with muntjac CWD.
Western blot detection of PrPCWD in brains of CerTgPrP mice (n = 9) IC-inoculated with obex from a CWD+ white-tailed deer (lane 2) or CWD+ muntjac (lanes 4–12) following PK digestion. Complete PK digestion of PrPC is shown in a mouse inoculated with negative deer obex (lane 2).
Figure 2.
PrPCWD detection in CWD-inoculated dams.
(A) IHC PrPCWD is demonstrated (red deposits) in a tonsilar lymphoid biopsy collected at 4 mpi (A3) and in the obex of a terminal TSE diseased dam at 23 mpi (A1). Absence of red deposits is shown in negative control tonsil (A4) and obex (A2). Picture objective is 20X (scale bar = 200 µm). (B) Western blot detection of PrPCWD in obex tissue of a CWD-inoculated dam at 23 mpi (B lane 5) following PK digestion. Complete PK digestion of PrPC is shown in negative control deer obex (B lane 3). PrPCWD detection is demonstrated in CWD positive control deer obex (B lane 2).
Figure 3.
IHC PrPCWD detection in viable muntjac fawns born to CWD+ dams.
PrPCWD is demonstrated (red deposits) in tonsilar biopsies collected at 40 days post birth (dpb, A), 465 dpb (C) and 504 dpb (E) and RAMALT biopsies collected at 103 dpb (B), 386 dpb (D) and 504 dpb (F) and confirmed in the terminal tissues of 1 fawn (G, H, I). Absence of PrPCWD is shown in negative control tissues (J, K, L). Picture objective is 40X (scale bar = 100 µm) with insets at 20X (scale bar = 200 µm).
Figure 4.
Amplifiable CWD prions detected in muntjac dam and fetal tissues.
All panels show representative Western blot results after 5 rounds of sPMCA. Samples considered CWD positive are denoted with an asterisk (*). (A-H) Complete PK digestion of PrPC is shown in negative deer brain controls (-C) without and with PMCA. PrPCWD detection is shown in positive deer controls (+C) following PK digestion without and with PMCA. Tissue abbreviations are defined as follows: C = control, MED = mediastinal lymph node, PAR = parotid lymph node, POP = popliteal lymph node, MES = mesenteric lymph node, PLA = placenta, HLN = hepatic lymph node, TE = third eyelid, MAN = mandibular lymph node, TON = tonsil, ILN = ileocecocolic lymph node, RAM = recto-anal mucosa associated lymphoid tissue, SP = spleen, RLN = retropharyngeal lymph node, IL = ileum, TLN = tracheobronchial lymph node, SLN = sublumbar lymph node, OB = obex, MAM = mammary lymph node, CA = caruncle.
Figure 5.
CWD detection in tissues harvested from offspring of CWD+ dams.
Tonsilar and RAMALT biopsies harvested from viable (v) offspring were analyzed for PrPCWD by IHC. All tissues from nonviable (NV) and in utero (IU) derived tissues were analyzed for amplifiable CWD prions by 5 rounds of sPMCA. Tissues from mock-inoculated offspring were IHC and or sPMCA negative.
Table 2.
IHC and PMCA CWD detection in offspring born to mock and CWD-infected muntjac.