Histochemical studies were conducted on the fat content of lesions in the skin, nerves and lymphnodes of lepromatous leprosy, giant vacuoles in the lymphnodes of neural leprosy, lipoid pneumonia due to suppurative inflammation, xanthoma and the myelin sheath of peripheral nerves. The following results were obtained.
1) The fat in lepra cells is chiefly phospholipid (lecithin) and fatty acid and this coin-cides with the fat contained in leprosy bacilli. Foam cells contain a small amount of neutral fat (glycerol) besides the above acidic fats and at times sterol is found, but this can be interpreted as a process of cell degeneration. These findings are present in the lesions in the skin, nerves and lymphnodes and though the lesions in the skin and nerves are absorbed and disappear, the fat deposition in the lymphnodes remains.
2) The fat in old lesions in the lymphnodes (obtained at autopsy) is composed of a considerable quantity of glycerol and cholesterol (ester form) besides a large amount of phospholipid (lecithin) and fatty acid. At times cholesterol is not found.
3) Chaulmoogra oil reacts to Nile red and shows a phytosterin reaction. This coincides quite well with the properties of glycerol and cholesterol which were presented as charac-teristic of fats of old lymphnodes.
4) The fat deposition in the lymphnodes of lepromatous leprosy observed at autopsy is composed not only of the so-called lipoid substances included in the lepra cells and foam cells but also of chaulmoogra oil which has been administered therapeutically. This is especially marked in the lymphnodes of the extremities. The leprous lymphatic reticulosis arising from invasion by leprosy bacilli appears to aid deposition of fat transported from the periphery.
5) The giant vecuoles observed in the lymphnodes of neural leprosy can only be interp-reted as arising from saponification of chaulmoogra oil.
6) The pathological fat in xanthoma and suppurative lipoid pneumonia is composed of a large quantity of phospholipid (lecithin), cholesterol (ester from) and fatty acid, and also a small amount of glycerol. Glycolipid is found besides the above in myelin sheath of the peripheral nerves and the phospholipid is made up of lecithin and sphingomyelin.

抄録全体を表示

The total lipid, cholesterol and phosphatide contents of the upper leg muscle, cervical lymphnode and sciatic nerve, excised at aut10opsy of leprosy cases, were measured and the values compared to those of normal controls (accidental death). The total, lipid, cholesterol and phosphatide levels of the serum of leprosy patients were also measured. The choleste- rol content of the serum of leprosy is lower than in the normal healthy individual, but there
is no difference in the total lipid and phosphatide levels. The cholesterol/total lipid, phosphatide/total lipid and cholesterol/phosphatide ratios however, are lower than the normal. The former two, moreover, are not altered by long term administration of liver protecting agents and can be assumed to be due to leprosy itself whereas the latter shows a rise on recovery of normal liver function showing that it is a secondary phenomenon.
The marked changes in lipid content of the tissues and organs in murine leprosy have already been reported. These findings suggest that a general metabolic disturbance takes place in the host on infection with the leprosy bacilli.

抄録全体を表示

Ultracentrifugal determinations of serum lipoproteins were carried out in 16 subjects including 3 normal and 13 leprosy cases (macular tuberculoid " maculo-anaesthetic by Indian workers"…1, minor tuberculoid…5, lepromatous leprosy…7). All the case were free of complications as nephritis, atherosclerosis, tuberculosis and lepra reaction. Twenty-five ml.of fasting venous blood was collected by venepuncture without use of an anticoagulant and serum separatd by clotting. The density of the serum was increased to 1.063 by addition of sodium chloride in a proportion of 100mg. per ml. of serum. The serum was then spun at 40, 000 r.p.m. in a Hitachi preparative ultracentrifuge (40 P-type) for 8 hours (71, 500∼107, 000×g) at a temperature of -5°C. One ml. of the top fraction (flotation layer) was carefully removed. Paper electrophoretic studies showed that this fraction consisted of a large amount of β-lipoprotein and a small amount of α2-lipoprotein. Next 0.3ml. of the fraction was diluted 4-fold with 2 Mol NaC1 and analytical ultracen- trif ugation carried out. All analytical runs were made at a rotor speed of 59, 52059, 840 r.p.m. in a cell of 0.8ml. capacity at 13.427.3°C with the Spinco Model E ultracentri- fuge. The serum of the maculo-anaesthetic case showed a lipoprotein of the S_f 11.4 class (1 S_f=1 Svedberg unit of flotation =10^-13cm. /sec./dyne/g.) and a molecular weight of about 395, 000. No significant difference was found between the serum lipoprotein of the healthy subject and the maculo-anaesthetic patient. The serum lipoprotein S_f of minortuberculoid leprosy was in the 9.2∼11.1 class with a mean of 10.3 and a calculated molecular weight of about 330, 000. Differing from the maculo-anaesthetic or minor tubercu- loid leprosy, the serum lipoprotein of lepromatous leprosy was made up of several flotation classes of differing S_f. This trend is observed in nodular cases according to the Madrid classification. The S_f in lepromatous leprosy showed a wide variation of from 3.4 to 13.7 with a mean of 6.6 and the molecular weight was found to be close to 173, 000.

抄録全体を表示

Normal healthy school children (6-8 years of age) with negative lepromin and tuberculin reactions, were inoculated with dried BCG vaccine by the intracutaneous method or scarification and the reactions examined after 8-11 weeks or 1 year.
1) Regardless of the method of inoculation, the lepromin reaction was 70.8-72.6% positive and the tuberculin reaction was 82.9-84.0% positive after 1 year. A considerably high correlation was maintained between the size of the erythema induced by both reaction tests at all stages following inoculation of BCG.
2) Injection of 0.1% lactate solution as a placebo instead of BCG vaccine resulted in a 46.7% positive lepromin reaction and 51.1% positive tuberculin reaction after 1 year. It is suggested that is due to the fact that both the lepromin and tuberculin reactions are allergy reactions.

抄録全体を表示

The significance and value of the brownish red spot appearing together with the nodular infiltration at the site of inoculation in the late lepromin reactions using the Mitsuda's or Dharmendra's antigen and the problem of the time for reading were scrutinized.
1) The nodular infiltration and brownish red spot at the site of inoculation were measured in 185 leprosy cases (infiltration method and spot method). In the lepromatous cases, both sizes coincided quite well whereas in the non-lepromatous cases, the size of the spot was larger than that of the infiltration in the majority of the cases (Table 1). On the other hand, it could be found from the results that our criterion in which those more than 7mm. are classed as positive was appropriate for classification of the types (Table 2) 3). In non-leprous subjects (adults-25, school children-1227) too, the area of the spot was larger than that of the infiltration in many cases. This trend was more notable in individuals showing positive tuberculin reaction, especially in 39 pulmonary tuberculosis cases (Table 4).
2) The histological picture of the spot lesion in the non-lepromatous cases was similar to that of the nodular infiltration and minute cell infiltration foci of the tuberculoid structure were observed up to the perifery of the spot (Fig. 1, 2, 3). Similar findings were observed in the positive reaction site of the lepromatous cases (Fig. 4, 5, 6).
3) The spot method seems to be better than the infiltration method, because of high objectivity of the spot as an index for accurate measurement,
4) The early reactions using both antigens can be undoubtedly employed for the classifi-cation of leprosy under the present criterion in which those above 10mm after 48 hours are classed as positive (Table 5).
5) The number of cases showing the maximum size by the infiltration method was largest on the 22nd and 29th day after inoculation and that by the spot method was on the 8th and 15th day (Table 7). On the other hand, when our criterion (over 7mm as positive) was applied, reading on the 15th, 22nd and 29th day under the infiltration method, and that on any day between the 8th and the 29th day under the spot method, were considered to be appropriate for classification of the types (Table 2). As shown in Table 8, however, sometimes conversion of the reading from positive to negative and vice versa were seen on different days of measurement.
In short, the measurement of the reaction should begin on the 8th day, and negative cases should be re-examined thrice at least, on the 15th, 22nd and 29th day. At a mass examination, provided the measurement is not permissible to perform but once, the date recommended for measurement would be the 15th, 22nd and 29th day under the infiltration method and the 8th and 15th day under the spot method.
6) The value of the late reaction using the Dharmendra's antigen requires reinvestigation.

抄録全体を表示

This study was undertaken in an attempt to discover an analogousness in human leprosy by conducting immunological experiments on murine leprosy, as reported previously. Heat killed murine leprosy bacilli vaccine was prepared by the method discribed by Cauland and Saenz for tubercle bacilli vaccine, using olive oil or liquid paraffin as an adjuvant, and mice were immunized with these vaccine, respectively. The resisistance to murine leprosy infection was tested utilizing the screening method of Nishimura et al. The serum protein and glyco-protein fractions of the immunized mice were also lxamined by paper electrophoresis. The following results were obtained; 1) The olive oil vaccine has a considerably strong preventative action against murine leprosy infection and the liquid paraffin vaccine also has a inhibitory effect. The heat-killed vaccine, to which no adjuvant was added, showed a little suppression on infection compared to the unvaccinated control. 2) An increase in α₂-globulin and β-globulin was noted following inoculation with the olive oil, liquid paraffin and simple heat-killed vaccine and the increase was the highest by the inoculation of the olive oil vaccine which had the greatest preventative effect, and followed by the liquid paraffin vaccine. The findings with the simple heat-killed vaccine were close to those of the normal, but these alterations disappeared during three months after the challenge with murine leprosy bacilli. 3) No significant changes were noted in the serum glycoprotein fractions following inoculation of any of the vaccines. However, the α-globulin and β-globulin showed tendency to increase after the challenge with murine leprosy bacilli.

抄録全体を表示

It was found by Toda and Tokunaga that 3-amino-4-hydroxybenzoic acid hydrazide (ABH) and ω-anilino-undecanoic acid (ω-AUA) had some effects on the tubercle bacilli and were effective in experimental tuberculosis in mice. The effect of these agents in preventing murine leprosy was therefore investigated. It was found that ABH had some infection suppressing action. Application of this agent in human leprosy is being studied in view of this finding together with its effect in experimental tuberculosis in mice.

抄録全体を表示

Mice of a pure strain were inoculated with the murine leprosy bacilli and treated with a light sensitive dye, Neo-cyancor 12. The following results were obtained:
1) Short term treatment with this agent shows a suppressive effect on leproma develop-ment but long-term treatment has an enhancing effect.
2) Excision and accurate measurement of the leproma verifies the above; the leproma being significantly smaller than the control in the short term treatment group and larger in the long-term treatment group.
3) Histological examination of the leproma with the fluorescent microscope shows that the form of many of the murine leprosy bacilli is altered in the treated group and disrupted forms incaease parallel with treatment. This shows that there is no relationship between the therapeutic progress and appearance of abnormal forms.
4) There was no significant difference in the number of bacilli present in the leproma between the treated and control groups.

抄録全体を表示