Pathology in Patient: Visualising Prion in the Arts

Art interpretation: Pathology in Patient, March 2014

Science interpretation: Visual representation of human brain tissue “infected” by Creutzfeldt-Jakob prion disease
For the arts assignment that we did in last class, I attempted in my work to echo prion infected brain tissue. This visual representation often accompanies scientific articles, the one above in particular represents infected patient with 4-octapeptide repats insertion from Oxford’s Brain Journal of Neurology.

So in the images A-H in the second show the following conditions related to prion:

“Pathology in Patient VIII with 4-OPRI. (A) Haematoxylin–eosin-stained section of the frontal cortex with severe spongiform degeneration and neuronal loss. (B, C) Prion protein deposition occasionally forms small ‘woollen’ structures in the deep cortical layers, and distinct, delicate labelling of axons is seen in the grey (C, arrows) and white matter. In the cortex, variable amounts of phosphorylated tau were seen, which were scattered and sparse in the frontal and temporal (D), and more abundant in the occipital cortex (E). Prion protein deposits form a striking, ‘tigroid’ pattern, which is oriented perpendicularly to the surface and is limited to the molecular layer (F, G). Very rarely, there are also deposits of phosphorylated tau (H, arrow).” (Brain, 2014)

To understand the neurology and biochemistry behind these processes are not easy, but as a temporary artist for the assignment I think the art reflects the science while maintaining the freedom of abstraction allowing for many visual and scientific interpretations. For example, I would use some of the pieces to explain how human brain tissue (could be) afflicted with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease since the result of my artistic experimentation is riddled with holes (white areas). CJD as mad cow disease in humans are called, are caused be the PrPSc prion, which is an abnormal protein whose amino acid chain is folded differently (and dangerously so).

The image that served as my source of inspiration was chosen because I was visually intrigued by it. There were similar images when I researched “prion infected tissue” that represented very different research in how prion infects humans and animals. The important aspect I wanted to make clear in the art work is that prion is not a bacterial or viral infection, and so I wanted it to be abstracted enough. Initially, I had experimented around with the different solubles given to us in class, and the chemicals reaction going on in the process itself was very interesting. The ammonia created some crackle effects, whereas the ink was hard to control. To make the result look more like the pattern from my inspiration source I cut up the piece and rearranged it to make the texture and patterns more scientifically viable.

The relationship between visual art and science is fascinating which I won’t elaborate on here, but I think we often overlook how abstract works of art has the potential to be interpreted scientifically, and in some cases quite rigorously. Perhaps this abstraction in the visual art is, on one level, a scientific response to our human experiences.