[Reproduction of experimental leprous infection in mice with a preliminary modelling of failure of the mononuclear phagocyte system].

CBA mice with induced insufficiency of mononuclear phagocyte system (MNPS) were inoculated intraplantar with M. leprae in a dose of 1 X 10(4). A significantly accelerated multiplication of M. leprae was noted in the sites of inoculation with the development of a generalized infections process and appearance in 6 months after inoculation of lepromatous structures in spleen, liver and other internal organs as compared with the animals with unchanged MNPS. The data obtained suggest that insufficiency in macrophage component of cell-mediated immunity might underline the sensibility to leprosy infection.