title: Viability of acid-fast bacilli from gamma-& UV-irradiated lepromatous armadillo tissues infected with Mycobacterium leprae.
abstract: Gamma-irradiated splenic homogenates of armadillos infected with M. leprae proved sterile by conventional tests and media. However, on media for chemoautotrophy, these could repeatedly grow as a single type of acid-fast nocardioform bacterium like the unirradiated specimens, although with a much reduced count. In the slide culture, transition from the initial AFB/coccoid bodies, to sporulating mycelia and granules in the final stage, could be observed sequentially. The gamma-irradiated tissue specimens failed to yield any other mycobacterium/corynebacterium tested according to standard protocols.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, Calcutta.
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Dastidar
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Chakrabarty
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001135:Armadillos / Q000382:microbiology*; D003470:Culture Media; D005720:Gamma Rays; D007918:Leprosy / Q000382:microbiology*; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000528:radiation effects; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media