ABSTRACT
Mycobacterium leprae was isolated from skin-punch biopsies of 2 untreated lepromatous leprosy patients. The bacteria were enumerated, diluted 10-fold and cultured in Middlebrook 7H9 medium supplemented with albumin, dextrose, catalase and 14C-palmitic acid. The cultures were incubated at 33 degrees C in a modified Buddemeyer radiorespiratory detection vessel. Those cultures containing at least 10(7) mycobacteria demonstrated a progressive evolution of 14CO2.
Subject(s)
Carbon Dioxide/metabolism , Leprosy, Lepromatous/microbiology , Mycobacterium leprae/metabolism , Palmitic Acids/metabolism , Colony Count, Microbial , Humans , Oxidation-Reduction , Palmitic Acid , Skin/microbiologyABSTRACT
Insufficient numbers of viable Mycobacterium leprae have hampered metabolic studies using human-derived M. leprae. In this study, sufficient numbers of M. leprae were obtained from an untreated lepromatous patient to titrate the effects of pH on the metabolism of 14C-palmitic acid by M. leprae. Catabolic metabolism (oxidation of 14C-palmitic acid and release of 14CO2) was maximal when M. leprae were incubated at 33 degrees C and suspended in Middlebrook 7H9, ADC supplemented medium that had been buffered to maintain a pH of 4.8. Anabolic metabolism (synthesis of 14C-phenolic glycolipid-I and its precursor, 14C-phthiocerol dimycocerosate) was maximal when the pH was maintained at 6.8.
Subject(s)
Carbon Dioxide/metabolism , Glycolipids/biosynthesis , Lipids/biosynthesis , Mycobacterium leprae/metabolism , Palmitic Acids/metabolism , Adolescent , Antigens, Bacterial/biosynthesis , Humans , Leprosy/microbiology , Male , Mycobacterium leprae/immunology , Mycobacterium leprae/isolation & purification , Palmitic AcidABSTRACT
Thalidomide is well documented as being an effective drug in the treatment of erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL). The mechanism of action of thalidomide in ENL as well as the pathogenesis of ENL are yet to be fully determined. Lepromatous leprosy patients experiencing ENL have been reported to have an increase in the ratio of CD4+ to CD8+ cells in their blood and ENL skin lesions. Thalidomide has been shown to cause a decrease in the ratio of CD4+ to CD8+ lymphocytes in the blood of healthy males. This decrease was due to a significant reduction in the numbers of Cd4+ lymphocytes and an apparent increase in the numbers of CD8+ lymphocytes. In this study, thalidomide's effectiveness in halting chronic ENL and arresting a relapse into ENL was consistently associated with a decrease in the numbers of CD4+ lymphocytes in the blood of 2 male lepromatous leprosy patients.
