RESUMO
A possible model for nerve damage in leprosy has been developed in the sciatic nerve of the guinea pig. Intraneural injection of 10(7) BCG organisms into an unsensitized animal induces an epithelioid cell granuloma in 2 weeks similar to that found in tuberculoid leprosy patients. In contrast, intraneural injection of 10(9) cobalt-irradiated Mycobacterium leprae organisms induces a macrophage granuloma in 5 weeks, similar to that found in lepromatous leprosy patients. Histological, immunohistochemical, electron microscopical and electrophysiological studies have demonstrated that the lesions induced in the experimental animals show many of the features documented in studies of nerve damage in leprosy patients.
Assuntos
Hanseníase/patologia , Doenças do Sistema Nervoso Periférico/patologia , Nervo Isquiático/patologia , Animais , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Eletrofisiologia , Feminino , Granuloma/patologia , Granuloma/fisiopatologia , Cobaias , Imuno-Histoquímica , Hanseníase/fisiopatologia , Microscopia Eletrônica , Mycobacterium bovis , Mycobacterium leprae , Doenças do Sistema Nervoso Periférico/fisiopatologia , Nervo Isquiático/análise , Nervo Isquiático/fisiopatologia , Nervo Isquiático/ultraestruturaRESUMO
Gangliosides derived from tissues of normal and lepromatous armadillos were examined by thin-layer chromatography. The ganglioside patterns produced by the Mycobacterium leprae-infected tissues varied from that of the normal tissue. Although increased levels of several gangliosides were observed in the infected tissues, there was an apparent preferential increase in GM3 gangliosides as determined by column chromatography and enzymatic hydrolysis.