Membrane-free scrapie activity

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Abstract
Determinations of scrapie activity in subcellular fractions from infected hamster brains through the asymptomatic and symptomatic course of infection revealed the presence of substantial amounts of scrapie infectivity n the 100,000 .times. g supernatant fractions, indicating that association with physically discernible membrane structures is not necessary for the transmission of the scrapie agent. An increase of scrapie infectivity in the 100,000 .times. g supernatant fractions after vigorous homogenization of infected membrane-rich fractions suggests that the agent is identical in membrane-rich and 100,000 .times. g supernatant fractions.