Animation

2. When a cow is fed with offals derived from a PrPSc-infected sheep, prions are somehow taken up from the gut and transported to the brain. The details of this process are not yet known, but one likely scenario is that PrPSc enters a nerve ending (synapse) from where it is transported along the nerve fiber (axon), arriving finally at the plasma membrane of the nerve cell body in the brain.

 

next 

To cite this section
MLA style: Animation. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Sat. 23 Nov 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1997/7801-animation-1997-2/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Nobel Prizes and laureates

Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.

See them all presented here.

Illustration

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.