ABSTRACT. Atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (atypical BSE) has recently been identified in several countries including Japan. Most cases of atypical BSE have been reported in cattle older than 8 years of age. To clarify the association between age and occurrence of atypical BSE, we investigated both the physiological properties and amount of cellular prion protein (PrP C ) in brain homogenates from young and aged cattle by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunoblotting. The amount of PrP C in the brain homogenates was not significantly different between young and aged cattle, but the amount in the detergent-insoluble fraction in the aged cattle was significantly higher than that of young cattle. Significant differences were observed in neither of the glycosylation forms nor in proteinase K sensitivity in young and aged cattle. Age-related changes included deposition of lipofuscin pigment and a decrease of 33% in proteasome activity in the brains of aged cattle compared to that of young cattle.KEY WORDS: atypical BSE, brain homogenate, cattle, prion, proteasome.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 72(12): 1583-1587, 2010 Prion diseases, also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), are a group of fatal neurodegenerative disorders caused by accumulation of the proteinase K (PK)-resistant pathogenic isoform (PrP res ) in the host cellular prion protein (PrP C ) [17]. TSE, which have been found in humans and other mammalian species, include bovine spongiform encephalopathies (BSE) in cattle and scrapie in sheep and goats. Only one strain of BSE prion was originally thought to exist, in contrast to the many different scrapie strains found around the world [3]. Recently, however, a strain of atypical BSE, which is different from the classical BSE, was independently reported in Italy [5], France [1], and Japan [21]. Atypical BSE is classified into two different types: H-type, characterized by a higher molecular mass associated with the unglycosylated protein band, and L-type or a bovine amyloidotic spongiform encephalopathy (BASE), characterized by an unglycosylated protein band with a lower molecular mass and the predominance of a monoglycosylated band [1,5].To date, more than 40 cases of atypical BSE, including 2 cases in Japan [13,21], have been documented globally through active surveillance systems. Most atypical BSE cases have occurred in cattle over 8 years of age, although classical BSE cases occur mostly in animals between 4 and 6 years of age. This indicates that atypical BSE might be associated with cattle age or age-related retrogressions such as proteasome activity. However, the biochemical properties and expression of PrP C in the brain of aged cattle remain largely unclear.To clarify the existence of any relationship between cattle age and occurrence of atypical BSE, the physiological properties and amount of PrP C expression in brain homogenates were compared between young and aged cattle. Relative expressions of PrP C in brain homogenates were not significantly different between the young a...