title: Degradation process of Mycobacterium leprae cells in infected tissue examined by the freeze-substitution method in electron microscopy.
abstract: Mycobacterium leprae cells (strain Thai-53) harvested from infected mouse foot pads were examined by electron microscopy using the freeze-substitution technique. The population of M. leprae cells from the infected tissue consisted of a large number of degraded cells and a few normal cells. These thin sectioned cell profiles could be categorized into four groups depending on the alteration of the membrane structures, and the degradation process is considered to occur in stages, namely from stages 1 to 3. These are the normal cells with an asymmetrical membrane, a seemingly normal cell but with a symmetrical membrane (stage 1), a cell possessing contracted and highly concentrated cytoplasm with a membrane (stage 2), and a cell that has lost its membrane (stage 3). The peptidoglycan layer was found to remain intact in these cell groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. amako@mxw.mesh.ne.jp
authors.forename: Kazunobu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Amako
authors.forename: Akemi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takade
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Umeda
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
authors.forename: Shin-ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001433:Bacteriolysis; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005528:Foot; D017110:Freeze Substitution; D007918:Leprosy / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D010457:Peptidoglycan