Replication of the scrapie agent in ocular neural tissues.

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Abstract
Optic nerves and retinas removed from hamsters experimentally inoculated with the scrapie agent contain a high titer of infectivity. Ophthalmoscopic examination of these animals revealed gross lesions of retinopathy as early as 3 wk before the onset of clinical signs of brain degeneration. The scrapie agent may spread centrifugally in nerve fibers after intracerebral inoculation and the scrapie-associated retinopathy seen in hamsters is directly induced by the agent rather than the result of retrograde degeneration from central neural damage.