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.
BT - Microbiology and immunology C1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12906098?dopt=Abstract DA - 2003 DO - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2003.tb03375.x IS - 6 J2 - Microbiol. Immunol. LA - eng N2 -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.
PY - 2003 SP - 387 EP - 94 T2 - Microbiology and immunology TI - Degradation process of Mycobacterium leprae cells in infected tissue examined by the freeze-substitution method in electron microscopy. VL - 47 SN - 0385-5600 ER -