Prion Illustration

Illustration of prion diseases, or encephalopathy's, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, CJD, fatal familial insomnia (FFI) and Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome (GSS)). The prion protein comes from a normal protein (left) which is present in mammalsÕ bodies. When this protein is badly conformed (right), and folds in on itself (ÒscrapieÓ prion protein (PrPsc)), accumulating in the brain, causes loss of neurons and appearance of vacuoles in the encephalon, spongiosa and shrunken cortex. This disease leads to a fatal degeneration of the central nervous system. (Photo by: BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)