Propane and tetradecane as carbon sources for in vitro cultivation of Mycobacterium lepraemurium in a liquid medium (a preliminary communication).
Three strains of host grown Mycobacterium lepraemurium and five strains of Mycobacterium lepraemurium, grown on egg yolk medium, were inoculated into propane-tetradecane media. The media contained in one litre distilled water: KH2PO4, 7 g, Na2HPO4, 0.5 g, (NH4)2SO4, 2 g, MgSO4, 0.1 g, ferric ammonium citrate, 20 mg, and yeast extract (Difco), 0.1 g. Tetradecane 0.1 ml was added to each tube containing 20 ml of the medium. Media were sterilized in the autoclave. Following inoculation with the bacilli, the cultures were bubbled aseptically with 99% purity propane gas for 10 s. When incubated at 32 degrees C, logarithmic growth rate was counted in the cultures. Bacilli were strongly acid-fast. Growth occurred at the interface of the tetradecane oil and water as a thin weil, developing into a one to three millimeter thick emulsion in two to three months. Cultures were transferred into fresh media at two to three month intervals. Growth pattern in the subcultures were indistinguishable from the growth in the primary cultures. The cultures did not grow on Löwenstein-Jensen or in Dubos media, but produced the characteristic disease of murine leprosy when injected subcutaneously into mice. Bacilli isolated from the subcutaneous lepromas of mice were again cultivable in the propane-tetradecane medium, but not on Löwenstein-Jensen or in Dubos.
D000473:Alkanes / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D003470:Culture Media; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D009167:Mycobacterium lepraemurium / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D011407:Propane / Q000378:metabolism*
D000473:Alkanes; D003470:Culture Media; C024713:n-tetradecane; D011407:Propane