The feeding of meat and bone meal to cattle per se may not be the main cause of BSE. However, by excessive feeding of MBM, especially in dairy cows, a state of hyperammonaemia can be achieved and hypomagnesaemia can also be initiated. There are no published references to date in which intake of crude protein (and potassium) high enough to lead to a state of hyperammonaemia-hypomagnesaemia during the incubation period of BSE. Hlasny (2000) reviewed about 200 papers on the central nervous system (CNS)changes associated with BSE, and detected a possibility that these mechanisms have a strong influence on CNS function, especially in ruminants.
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