IMMUNOLOGICAL STUDIES IN HUMAN AND MURINE LEPROSY (1)

IMMUNIZATION OF MICE AGAINST MURINE LEPROSY BY BCG AND THE EFFECT OF GAMMA GLOBULIN ON THE ONSET OF MURINE LEPROSY

Abstract

As a preliminary experiment, studies were conducted on the possibillity of utilizing the mouse as the experimental animal in immunological studies of murine leprosy and the best site of BCG inoculation. It was found that the greatest suppressive effect was obtained at 90 days by intra peritoneal inoculation but subcutaneous and intramuscular inoculation also showed an inhilbition compared to the control. Oral and intravenous inoculation however were ineffective. With a lapse of 120 days, the difference between the treated animals and untreated controls becomes insignificant. (See Fig. 1)
The distribution of bacilli in the lymphnodes followed the order of suppression of the leproma. (See Fig. 2)
From these results it can be seen that use of mice in immunological studies on murine leprosy is feasible and the intraperitoneal route is the most effective. In the second experiment, γ-globulin extracted from the serum of leprous rats, healthy rats, leprosy patients and healthy human subjects was injected in the mouse and the effect on the onset of murine leprosy examined. No effect was observed. It is not clear however whether this lack of effect was due to the absence of immune substances in the γ-globulin or impossibility of passive immunization in the mouse. (See Fig. 3)