The Multiplication of Mycobacterium leprae in Mouse Foot-Pads and the Ambient Temperatures

抄録

The influence of fluctuation of the environmental temperatures on the multiplication of Mycobacterium leprae in mouse foot-pads was investigated. After infection with 10⁴ M. leprae into the foot-pads, mice were divided into the following 4 groups: Group 1, mice were housed in a room maintaining the air temperature at 20C with thermoregulatory devices throughout the experiment; Group 2, kept at 20C for the first 16 weeks, and at a regular animal room where the air temperatures fluctuated seasonally and diurnally for the next 15 weeks and then returned to the 20C room; Group 3, kept at 20C for the first 16 weeks and thereafter at the regular animal quarters; Group 4, kept at the regular animal room throughout the experiment. In the mice in Group 1, M. leprae increased as expected. Acid-fast bacilli also multiplied in the mice kept under fluctuation of air temperatures at the regular animal quarters but distinctly more slowly than in those kept at 20C. Acid-fast bacilli rose in the mice transferred to the 20C room from the regular ones, suggesting that viability of M. leprae is not significantly affected by ordinary fluctuation of air temperatures.