1965 Volume 34 Issue 4 Pages 341-347
In order to prepare the standard lepromin from the material with low bacterial contents, it was necessary to remove the majority of tissue components from lepromin without any influence upon its potency. This urgent problem was solved by the follow-ing experiment. The pooled nodules from relapsed patients were divided into two parts, one of which was used for the preparation of the standard lepromin (Ms) by the usual method, and the other part of the material was treated with a mixture of trypsin and bile salt so that the majority of tissue components could be digested, and the partially purified bacillus suspension (Mp) was prepared through centrifugation and washing. In spite of such treatment as above, no increased morphological change of bacilli in Mp was observed, comparing with that of Ms, by the microscopic as well as electron-microscopic examinations.
As the results of comparative tests with leprosy patients, the size of early reaction with Mp in non-lepromatous cases was larger than that of Ms, but the late reactions did not show any significant difference between Mp and Ms. On the other hand, the late reactions with Mp in lepromatous cases showed a gradual decrease from 15 days to 42 days after injection, while no marked change in the period was observed in case of Ms. This difference was considered to be caused by the sensitization due to tissue components in Ms, but not to be caused by the lowered potency of Mp due to the purification procedures.
