Establishment of experimental leprosy in nude mice
Kohsaka, K.; Makino, M.; Mori, T.; Ito, T.
Nihon Saikingaku Zasshi. Japanese Journal of Bacteriology 33(2): 389-394
1978
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-4930 PMID: 353320 Document Number: 130798
A lepromatoid lesion that developed in a nude mouse inoculated with Mycobacterium leprae was previously reported. The secondary passage of M. leprae which proliferated in the lesion of the first infected nude mouse into other nude mice was confirmed experimentally. The reproducibility of animal transmission with nude mice was also proved. Successive transmission of M. leprae was carried out 3 times by the foot pad technique with the organism which proliferated in a nude mouse. M. leprae derived from 5 lepromatous patients was also inoculated into foot pads of nude mice. Infected animals were maintained in vinyl (plastic) isolators under specific pathogen-free conditions. There was swelling in infected foot pads of all animals in the 10th mo. after infection. There was a lepromatoid lesion at the site of inoculation. A bacterial harvest of 3.6 .times. 108 was obtained from a foot pad of the mouse. The nude mouse (BALB/c-nu/nu) and its normal littermate (BALB/c-nu/+) were examined for body temperature with an electronic thermometer. There was no significant difference in body temperature between the nude mouse and the normal. M. leprae was detected from the skin of low-temperature parts of the body, but not from the skin of high-temperature parts in the 10th mo. after infection. It was seen in lung, liver and spleen, but not in the kidney. M. leprae organisms derived from 5 different patients were successfully transmitted into the foot pads of nude mice. The maximum yield of M. leprae was 1.1 .times. 1010 in a foot pad in the 8th mo. after infection.