Silva M T, Macedo P M
J Gen Microbiol. 1984 Feb;130(2):369-80. doi: 10.1099/00221287-130-2-369.
Microdensitometry showed that the membrane profiles of normal cultivable mycobacteria were very asymmetric (outer layer denser and thicker than the inner layer), while the profiles of normal-looking M. leprae in lepromatous patients, in experimentally infected armadillos and in nude mice were approximately symmetric; moreover, the membrane of M. leprae was thicker than that of cultivable species. Using two cytochemical methods for the ultrastructural detection of periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive molecules (the Thiéry procedure, and staining with phosphotungstic acid at low pH) we found that the membrane of cultivable mycobacteria, growing in vitro or in vivo, had PAS-positive components exclusively in the outer layer, while the normal-looking M. leprae in patients and in armadillos had membranes with PAS-positive components in both layers. The membranes of damaged cultivable mycobacteria, in vivo or in vitro, and of damaged M. leprae, in patients or armadillos, were PAS-negative.
显微密度测定法显示，正常可培养分枝杆菌的膜轮廓非常不对称（外层比内层更致密且更厚），而在瘤型麻风患者、实验感染犰狳和裸鼠中外观正常的麻风分枝杆菌的轮廓大致对称；此外，麻风分枝杆菌的膜比可培养菌种的膜更厚。使用两种细胞化学方法对过碘酸希夫（PAS）阳性分子进行超微结构检测（蒂埃里法，以及在低pH值下用磷钨酸染色），我们发现，在体外或体内生长的可培养分枝杆菌的膜仅在外层有PAS阳性成分，而患者和犰狳中外观正常的麻风分枝杆菌的膜在两层都有PAS阳性成分。体内或体外受损的可培养分枝杆菌以及患者或犰狳中受损的麻风分枝杆菌的膜均为PAS阴性。
