Friday, January 29, 2021 NIAID Scientists Identify Mechanism of Early Prion Disease in the Eyes (left panel) Early in prion infection, a prion protein aggregate (magenta) blocks the entrance to a cilium (green) in a retinal photoreceptor. (lower right) In prion-infected retina, prion protein (magenta) accumulates under the horseshoe-shaped ribbon synapses (green) found in photoreceptor terminals. (NIAID image) NIAID Scientists Identify Mechanism of Early Prion Disease in the Eyes The earliest eye damage from prion disease takes place in the cone photoreceptor cells, specifically in the cilia and the ribbon synapses, according to new NIAID research published in Acta Neuropathologica Communications. Prion diseases originate when normally harmless prion protein molecules become abnormal and gather in clusters and filaments in the human body and brain. Understanding how prion diseases develop, particularly in the eye because of its diagnostic accessibility to clinicians, can help scientists identify ways to slow the spread of these diseases. The scientists say their findings also may help inform research on human retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disease with similar photoreceptor degeneration leading to blindness. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases  |  National Institutes of Health Update your subscriptions, modify your password or e-mail address, or stop subscriptions at any time on your Subscriber Preferences Page. You will need to use your e-mail address to log in. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact Subscriber Help. This service is provided to you at no charge by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).                             This email was sent to myhcistech.healthnews360@blogger.com using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases · 5601 Fishers Lane · Bethesda, MD 20892 · 1-866-284-4107