Prions Essay

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The earliest sighting of prions occurred back in the 1730s in a sheep in central Europe. Eventually in 1982, Stanely Prusiner came up with the term prion. Prions differ from regular proteins because they develop the ability to develop on their own, whereas proteins cannot. Prions inhibit a proteins ability to function, and are abundantly found in the brain. This may make us think that prions are there to eliminate cells in the brain that aren’t supposed to be growing there. When a prion infects an organism, it causes a loss of long term memory. Furthermore, it decreases thinking capabilities and eventually body movement. Scientist believe that prions may be involved in communicating between cell death, neurons, and controlling sleep patterns. One of the diseases prions can cause is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or Mad Cow Disease. Humans cannot contract Mad Cow Disease because humans are not cows. They can’t contract it from eating red meat (i.e. hamburgers and steak). The only way a human can contract Mad Cow Disease is by eating the nerve tissue (brain or spinal cord) of an infected animal, meaning it would be very difficult to accidentally acquire prion disease. If you do, however, eat an infected animal, the chances of you acquiring prion disease are very high.

The earliest sighting of prions occurred back in the 1730s in a sheep in central Europe. Eventually in 1982, Stanely Prusiner came up with the term prion. Prions differ from regular proteins because they develop the ability to develop on their own, whereas proteins cannot. Prions inhibit a proteins ability to function, and are abundantly found in the brain. This may make us think that prions are there to eliminate cells in the brain that aren’t supposed to be growing there. When a prion infects an organism, it causes a loss of long term memory. Furthermore, it decreases thinking capabilities and eventually body movement. Scientist believe that prions may be involved in communicating between cell death, neurons, and controlling sleep patterns. One of the diseases prions can cause is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or Mad Cow Disease. Humans cannot contract Mad Cow Disease because humans are not cows. They can’t contract it from eating red meat (i.e. hamburgers and steak). The only way a human can contract Mad Cow Disease is by eating the nerve tissue (brain or spinal cord) of an infected animal, meaning it would be very difficult to accidentally acquire prion disease. If you do, however, eat an infected animal, the chances of you acquiring prion disease are very high.

The earliest sighting of prions occurred back in the 1730s in a sheep in central Europe. Eventually in 1982, Stanely Prusiner came up with the term prion. Prions differ from regular proteins because they develop the ability to develop on their own, whereas proteins cannot. Prions inhibit a proteins ability to function, and are abundantly found in the brain. This may make us think that prions are there to eliminate cells in the brain that aren’t supposed to be growing there. When a prion infects an organism, it causes a loss of long term memory. Furthermore, it decreases thinking capabilities and eventually body movement. Scientist believe that prions may be involved in communicating between cell death, neurons, and controlling sleep patterns. One of the diseases prions can cause is Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or Mad Cow Disease. Humans cannot contract Mad Cow Disease because humans are not cows. They can’t contract it from eating red meat (i.e. hamburgers and steak). The only way a human can contract Mad Cow Disease is by eating the nerve tissue (brain or spinal cord) of an infected animal, meaning it would be very difficult to accidentally acquire prion disease. If you do, however, eat an infected animal, the chances of you acquiring prion disease are very high.

The earliest sighting of prions occurred back in the 1730s in a sheep in central Europe. Eventually in
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