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Semen from scrapie-infected rams does not transmit prion infection to transgenic mice

INRA, UR1282, Infectiologie Animale et Santé Publique (IASP), Nouzilly F-37380, France¹ INRA-ENVT, Interactions Hôtes-Agents Pathogènes, UMR 1225, IHAP, F-31066 Toulouse, France and² INRA-CNRS-Haras Nationaux-Université de Tours, UMR 6175, Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements (PRC), Nouzilly F-37380, France

Correspondence should be addressed to J-L Gatti; Email: gatti{at}tours.inra.fr

Scrapie is the most common transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) in livestock. Natural contamination in sheep flocks is presumed to occur by maternal transmission to offspring. However, horizontal prion transmission from animal to animal exists and may be significant in sustaining and spreading contagion in the field. Artificial insemination is widely used in modern farming, and as large amounts of prion protein have been found in sheep sperm membrane, epididymal fluid and seminal plasma, horizontal transmission by this route was hypothesized since no clear information has been obtained on possible sexual transmission of TSE. We therefore tested the contamination levels of semen from scrapie-infected rams at different stages of incubation, including the clinical phase of the disease. We report here that under our experimental conditions ram semen did not transmit infectivity to scrapie-susceptible transgenic mice overexpressing the V¹³⁶R¹⁵⁴Q¹⁷¹ allele of the sheep prion (PRNP) gene. These results suggest that artificial insemination and natural mating have a very low or negligible potential for the transmission of scrapie in sheep flocks.