STUDIES ON THE DEVIATION IN THE LIPID CONTENTS OF VARIOUS ORGANS AND TISSUES OF LEPROSY RATS

Abstract

In the biochemical study of murine leprosy, the amount of fatty substances of variousorgans was examined and compared with the control, to investigate the disturbance of meta-bolism of infected rats.
Animals employed in this experiment were five male white rats of 300-350g, and five femaleof 200-250g weight, after 4months of murine leprosy bacillus inoculation and of similarweight and ten intact white rats of both sexes of similar weight were settled as control.
The quantity of free and total cholesterol, cerebroside, Lecithin, Sphingomyelin, Cephalin, free fatty acids, nertral fats in N. ischiadicus, neck nodes, muscles of upper leg, subcutaneousfatty tissue, murine leproma, liver, lung, kidney and spleen was measured and compared withthe normal. The results were shown in Table 2.
Total cholesterol increases in the peripheral tissues and does not change in the visceralorgans. Cerebroside increases in every tissue. Total phosphatide, especially Sphingomyelin, increases in the peripheral tissues and does not change in the viscera. Neural fat d ecreasesin every tissue, while the changesof fatty substances are more remarkable in the peripheraltissues than in the internal organs.
The above results indicate that murine leprosy is a general disease accompanied with thedisturbances of metabolisms in various organs, of which detailed facts should be investigated.