Abstract
A lepromatoid lesion developed in a nude mouse inoculated with Mycobacterium leprae was previously reported by the authors. The secondary passage of M. leprae which had 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 three times by the foot pad technique with the organism which had 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 an SPF condition.
Swelling was found macroscopically in infected foot pads of all the animals in the 10th month after infection. A lepromatoid lesion was seen at the site of inoculation. At the same time, a bacterial harvest amounted to 3.6×108 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-temperatured parts of the body, but not from the skin of high-temperatured parts, in the 10th month 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 1.1×1010 in a foot pad in the 8th month after infection.
