Seven of eight rhesus monkeys (RM) coinfected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and Mycobacterium leprae harboured acid-fast bacilli (AFB) at sites of dermal inoculation and/or at disseminated sites at times of humane sacrifice (up to 270 days post-M. leprae inoculation) due to SIV-induced debilitation or, in one long term survivor's case, to date over 3 years post-M. leprae inoculation....

The mechanism of genetic control of Mycobacterium leprae-specific delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) in mice was investigated in terms of footpad swelling response. Studies with various congenic and recombinant inbred strains of mouse revealed that M. leprae-specific DTH was controlled by genes within the I-A subregion. The footpad swelling response showed an antigen-specific pattern, revealin...

Nerve damage, a characteristic of leprosy, is the cause of patient deformities and a consequence of Schwann cells (SC) infection by Mycobacterium leprae. Although function/dysfunction of SC in human diseases like leprosy is difficult to study, many in vitro models, including SC lines derived from rat and/or human Schwannomas, have been employed. ST88-14 is one of the cell lineages used by many ...

Neurotropism is one of the most important characteristics of Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae). It is believed that nerve damage of leprosy is caused by various immune mechanisms 1), and so called "autoimmune reaction" is suspected to have one of the role in nerve damage. M. leprae 65 kDa heat shock protein (hsp 65) has noticeable characteristics. Hsp 65 is a highly conserved protein2). It belon...

Dapsone (4,4'-diaminodiphenylsulfone), incorporated into the mouse chow in a concentration of 0.1 g/100 g of diet, was administered for 1 week to mice in which Mycobacterium leprae had multiplied to the level of 10(6) organisms/footpad. M. leprae were harvested from these and also from control mice, diluted serially, and inoculated into additional mice. The organisms recovered from untreated mi...

Mycobacterium leprae causes leprosy and is unique among mycobacterial diseases in producing peripheral neuropathy. This debilitating morbidity is attributed to axon demyelination resulting from direct interaction of the M. leprae-specific phenolic glycolipid 1 (PGL-1) with myelinating glia and their subsequent infection. Here, we use transparent zebrafish larvae to visualize the earliest events...

In order to understand the mechanism of unresponsiveness towards Mycobacterium leprae antigens in leprosy, we evaluated the role of M. leprae sonicate antigens in regulating the expression of the costimulatory molecules B7-1, CD28, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), LFA-1alpha, LFA-1beta and Mac-1 on the lymphocytes of both leprosy patients and healthy subjects. It was observed that th...

During recent years, comparative genomic analysis has allowed the identification of Mycobacterium leprae-specific genes with potential application for the diagnosis of leprosy. In a previous study, 58 synthetic peptides derived from these sequences were tested for their ability to induce production of IFN-γ in PBMC from endemic controls (EC) with unknown exposure to M. leprae, household contact...

The fluorescein diacetate-ethidium bromide (FDA/EB) staining method for determining the viability of mycobacterial cells reported by Kvach and Veras was modified for applying the method to Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepraemurium. Our method clearly differentiated green-stained cells from red-orange ones with either mycobacterial species and permitted their original fluorescence for ...

The structural properties of the cell envelopes of Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepraemurium were investigated by freeze-fracture, freeze-etching, and negative-staining techniques. Freeze-fracture split the cell wall and exposed the internal features of the peptidoglycolipid mycosidic filamentous network. The cell membrane was also split into two asymmetric faces. The external fractur...