P. Banerjee et al., PROPAGATION OF MYCOBACTERIUM-LEPRAEMURIUM ON SUPPLEMENTED MINIMAL MEDIUM AND ITS EXPERIMENTAL PATHOGENESIS, INDIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL RESEARCH, 102, 1995, pp. 104-113
The splenic tissue of a mouse experimentally infected with M. lepraemu
rium (Hawaiian strain, M-65) and developing 'rat leprosy', yielded a p
ure culture of an acid - fast bacterium having all the characteristics
of M. lepraemurium on mineral salt minimal. medium supplemented with
simple sources of C and N, e.g., NH4 -salts, liquid paraffin, urea, ge
latin etc. This could be maintained, by serial passages in vitro with
good growth. Its indefinite propagation with tissue - free washed, sma
ll inoculum on complex media including Ogawa medium was difficult, and
its serial sub-culture was practically impossible. The in vitro isola
te from supplemented minimal medium could produce pathological lesions
in mice typical of rat leprosy.