Damle A, Mahadevan P R
Radiation Medicine Centre, Parel, Bombay.
Indian J Lepr. 1993 Jul-Sep;65(3):271-82.
The delipidified cell component (DCC) of Mycobacterium leprae was used as an immunomodulatory agent in Swiss white mice. The peritoneal macrophages of these mice were activated to produce increased amount of reactive oxygen intermediates like hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and superoxide. These macrophages also attained the ability to kill M. Leprae in vitro as shown by several assay systems including the conventional mouse foot-pad technique. The increased levels of superoxide seem to be responsible for the killing of M. leprae as addition of the enzyme superoxide dismutase, which breaks down O2, resulted in survival of these bacilli inside the macrophages. The increased production of H2O2 does not seem to be responsible for killing M. leprae. The results indicate that the DCC of M. leprae acts as an effective immunomodulator in mice leading to the activation of macrophages with increased production of H2O2 and superoxide as well as enabling them to kill M. leprae via the action of superoxide anions.
麻风分枝杆菌的脱脂细胞成分（DCC）被用作瑞士小白鼠的免疫调节剂。这些小鼠的腹腔巨噬细胞被激活，产生更多的活性氧中间体，如过氧化氢（H2O2）和超氧化物。这些巨噬细胞在体外也获得了杀死麻风分枝杆菌的能力，包括传统的小鼠足垫技术在内的几种检测系统都证明了这一点。超氧化物水平的升高似乎是杀死麻风分枝杆菌的原因，因为添加分解O2的超氧化物歧化酶会导致这些杆菌在巨噬细胞内存活。H2O2产量的增加似乎不是杀死麻风分枝杆菌的原因。结果表明，麻风分枝杆菌的DCC在小鼠中作为一种有效的免疫调节剂，导致巨噬细胞被激活，H2O2和超氧化物的产生增加，并使它们能够通过超氧阴离子的作用杀死麻风分枝杆菌。
