What are prions and why are they so hard to kill ?
In: Biology
(this could be wrong, my knowledge of this is pretty puddle deep)
Prions are proteins, but due to their shapes they cause other proteins that they touch to fold. This folding makes the protein unusable (or very inefficient). This prion then floats in the body rendering proteins it touches unusable. Because prions are just proteins they can’t be ‘killed’ but they can be destroyed through things like extreme heat.
However this isn’t practical as destroying the prion would also damage the healthy proteins.
There’s not too much consensus on how they are created but the leading theory is that certain elements (like aluminium) interacts with healthy proteins and folds them turning into prions.
Prions can be anywhere in the body, but mostly accumulate in the brain (not sure why)
If I’ve made a mistake comment below 🙂
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