Characterization of Lipids in Membrane Vesicles from Scrapie-infected Hamster Brain

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Abstract
The lipid compositions of membrane vesicles from scrapie-infected and uninfected hamster brains were examined before and after detergent extraction. No differences were observed in polar lipids, glycolipids, gangliosides or neutral lipids examined by TLC. Analysis of detergent-extracted CsCl gradient fractions with high scrapie infectivity failed to reveal any glycerolphosphatides, although neutral lipips were demonstrated. The major neutral lipid associated with detergent-extracted membrane vesicles from both infected and uninfected brain was an unidentified lipid which was found to absorb UV radiation strongly from 250-300 nm wavelengths. Memebrane neutral lipids that srongly absorb UV radiation of wavelengths normally used to inactivate viruses may protect a small nucleic acid essential for scrapie infectivity.