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The Multiplication of Mycobacterium leprae in Mouse Foot‐Pads and the Ambient Temperatures
Author(s) -
Matsuo Yoshiyasu
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
japanese journal of microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0021-5139
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1971.tb00614.x
Subject(s) - mycobacterium leprae , foot (prosody) , multiplication (music) , bacilli , skin temperature , veterinary medicine , zoology , experimental animal , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , immunology , leprosy , medicine , bacteria , dermatology , mathematics , linguistics , philosophy , genetics , combinatorics
The influence of fluctuation of the environmental temperatures on the multiplication of Mycobacterium leprae in mouse foot‐pads was investigated. After infection with 10 4 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 20 C with thermoregulatory devices throughout the experiment; Group 2, kept at 20 C 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 20 C room; Group 3, kept at 20 C 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 20 C. Acid‐fast bacilli rose in the mice transferred to the 20 C room from the regular ones, suggesting that viability of M. leprae is not significantly affected by ordinary fluctuation of air temperatures.