Granuloma formation in response to glycolipids, which contain mycolic acids, in some species of
Nocardia and
Rhodococcus was examined in various strains of mice. Marked differences in this reaction were observed among mouse strains one week after injection of 100 to 300μg glycolipids/mouse in w/o/w micells with Freund's incomplete adjuvant. ICR and ddY mice showed high responsiveness for the granuloma formation by trehalose dimycolate (TDM) and trehalose trimycolate (TTM). C3H/He and DBA/2 mice showed low responsiveness, and BALB/c, A/J and C57BL/6 mice intermediate responsiveness. The results obtained strongly suggest that the foreign-body-type granuloma formation (not immunological) by intravenous injection of glycolipids containing mycolic acids without protein antigen is esentially controlled genetically.
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