title: Histopathological and morphometrical comparison of granulomatous lesions in BALB/c and C3H/HeJ mice inoculated with Mycobacterium paratuberculosis.
abstract: Susceptibility to Mycobacterium paratuberculosis strain ATCC 19698 infection was compared histologically and morphometrically in BALB/c (Bcgs) and C3H/HeJ (Bcgr) mice. The granulomatous lesions, containing M. paratuberculosis, in the liver and spleen of BALB/c mice increased progressively until 32 weeks after intraperitoneal inoculation. In contrast, both the granulomatous lesions and number of bacteria decreased drastically in C3H/HeJ mice beginning at 6 weeks after inoculation. There were histological differences in granulomatous lesions between BALB/c and C3H/HeJ mice, indicating differing functional activity of cellular immunity. Intestinal lesions similar to those seen consistently in bovine paratuberculosis were observed first at 6 weeks after infection and later became disseminated widely, especially in BALB/c mice. Our results suggest that the innately susceptible BALB/c mice and the innately resistant C3H/HeJ mice may be useful and convenient models for further studies of immunoregulation and antimicrobial therapy of paratuberculosis.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Animal Health, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yokomizo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006099:Granuloma / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D008099:Liver / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000382:microbiology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D016927:Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010283:Paratuberculosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D013154:Spleen / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*