Vacuolated Neurones in Sheep affected with Scrapie

Abstract

Holman and Pattison¹ reported the occasional presence of homogeneous eosinophilic granules in vacuolated neurones of the medulla from sheep affected with scrapie. Palmer², in a recent communication, described similar eosinophilic bodies inside the vacuoles in eight sheep suffering from scrapie, and concluded that these bodies did not occur in vacuoles of healthy sheep. This observation of Palmer appears to be in contrast to the work of Zlotnik and Rennie³, who carried out an extensive study of medullas from fifty-seven apparently healthy sheep; they recorded the occurrence of vacuolated neurones in a high proportion of the animals and observed inside some of the vacuoles eosinophilic bodies identical with these described by Palmer.