A rapid and efficient method to enrich SAF-protein from scrapie brains of hamsters

Abstract

Scrapie hamster brains contain at least 5–10 μg of scrapie-associated fibrils (SAF) per brain as estimated by the amount of its major constituent, a protein of about 26 000 daltons (SAF-protein). It can be extracted efficiently by a 10% solution of sarkosyl and can be enriched by differentia] centrifugation and buffer extraction. Scrapie infectivity, SAF, and SAF-protein copurify.