Biological Properties of Myc. Lepraemurium

A comparision of the maintenance of infectious activity of Myc. lepraemurium kept under aerobic and anaerobic conditions was investigated. The Hawaiian strain of Myc. lepraemurium suspension in M/20 Sorensen buffer (pH 6.9) with and without 0.5% glucose or pyruvate was kept under aerobic or anaerobic condition which was made by adding paraffin oil. The materials for testing infectivity were taken from each tube stored under definite conditions at appropriate times. The materials were subcutaneously inoculated into several mice for each condition, and mice tested were killed about five months after inoculation.The results obtained here demonstrated that the infectious activity of Myc. lepraemurium was kept for more than 10 days if the bacillary suspension was stored under anaerobic condition, on the contrary, if the suspension was kept under aerobic condition, the infectious activity of the bacilli was lost within 7 days' incubation. The similar findings were observed in the cases of media containing glucose or pyruvate. However, when the medium contained glucose, the infectious activity of the bacillus was lost for a short time even if kept under anaerobic condition. On the other hand, if the medium contained pyruvate, the infectious activity of the bacillus was maintained for more than 20 days after incubation at 37°C either under aerobic and anaerobic condition.