How INRA has organised observations and experimentation on model or farm animals infected by transmissible spongiform encephalopathy

Abstract

The investments at INRA for the study of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) in animal populations, on farms or in experimental conditions are described : a large scale PrP gene genotyping laboratory, the experimental farm of Langlade where sheep submitted to natural scrapie are followed, an important protected animal building (Installations Nationales Protégées pour l’étude des Encéphalopathies Spongiformes Transmissibles “INPREST”) for large farm animals, the sheep house of the Toulouse National Veterinary School (ENVT), the protected rodent buildings on the INRA sites of Nouzilly and Jouy-en-Josas and Toulouse (ENVT). All these investments give scientists the means necessary to carry out their investigations on the physiopathology of animal TSE, the genetic determinants of the sensitivity/ resistance of these pathologies, the nature of the pathogenic agent and notably its variability as well as the evaluation of risks and the diagnostic.