Mechanisms involved in peripheral nerve damage in leprosy with special reference to insights obtained from in vitro studies and the experimental mouse model.

The histopathological observations of Khanolkar and Iyer, that M. leprae has a predeliction for nerves, first highlighted the central role of peripheral nerves in the pathology of leprosy. It is now well recognized that nerve damage in leprosy will still continue to be an important problem in control and rehabilitation despite the presence of more efficient therapy. The multiplicity of mechanisms postulated, identified, and demonstrated in the last three decades has received little recognition from the scientific community at large. This review is therefore an attempt to collate these multiple studies on mechanisms of nerve damage into a cohesive analysis, which would facilitate the design of future studies. The objective of this review is to focus therefore only on studies which serve to illustrate mechanisms of nerve damage.