In vitro drug screening system using membrane alteration in macrophages by Mycobacterium leprae.
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Date
1984-12
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Abstract
The observation that live Mycobacterium leprae on entry into macrophages from
lepromatous leprosy patients reduced the number of EA rosetting macrophages, was extended
to macrophages from Swiss white mice also. Further, the fact that dead Mycobacterium leprae
do not bring about such a change in macrophages from mice, allowed us to develop this into
a bacterial viability testing system. Thus drug treated macrophages in the presence of
Mycobacterium leprae showed normal rosetting ability if Mycobacterium leprae are inactivated
by the drug, but showed reduced level of rosetting when bacteria were not susceptible to the
drug. It was shown that a drug like dapsone, does act on Mycobacterium leprae based on its
permeability, quantity available inside the macrophages and inhibition of its action by Para
amino benzoic acid. The inactivation of Mycobacterium leprae by sulphone and rifampicin was
also proved by the flourescence diacetate method, which showed poorly viable bacteria after
exposure to drugs. Thus it has been possible to develop a rapid drug screening method for
testing the activity of unknown compound against Mycobacterium leprae.
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Keywords
Macrophage, membrane changes, Fc receptors, Mycobacterium leprae, viability, drug screening
Citation
Mankar M V, Jagannathan R, Mahadevan P R. In vitro drug screening system using membrane alteration in macrophages by Mycobacterium leprae. Journal of Biosciences. 1984 Dec; 6(5): 709-716.