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Human Skin as an Ex Vivo Model for Maintaining Mycobacterium leprae and Leprosy Studies

Authors :
Natália Aparecida de Paula
Marcel Nani Leite
Daniele Ferreira de Faria Bertoluci
Cleverson Teixeira Soares
Patrícia Sammarco Rosa
Marco Andrey Cipriani Frade
Source :
Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, Vol 9, Iss 6, p 135 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2024.

Abstract

The in vitro cultivation of M. leprae has not been possible since it was described as causing leprosy, and the limitation of animal models for clinical aspects makes studies on leprosy and bacteria–human host interaction a challenge. Our aim was to standardize the ex vivo skin model (hOSEC) to maintenance and study of M. leprae as an alternative animal model. Bacillary suspensions were inoculated into human skin explants and sustained in DMEM medium for 60 days. Explants were evaluated by RT-PCR-16SrRNA and cytokine gene expression. The viability and infectivity of bacilli recovered from explants (D28 and D60) were evaluated using the Shepard’s model. All explants were RT-PCR-16SrRNA positive. The viability and infectivity of recovered bacilli from explants, analyzed after 5 months of inoculation in mice, showed an average positivity of 31%, with the highest positivity in the D28 groups (80%). Furthermore, our work showed different patterns in cytokine gene expression (TGF-β, IL-10, IL-8, and TNF-α) in the presence of alive or dead bacilli. Although changes can be made to improve future experiments, our results have demonstrated that it is possible to use the hOSEC to maintain M. leprae for 60 days, interacting with the host system, an important step in the development of experimental models for studies on the biology of the bacillus, its interactions, and drug susceptibility.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
24146366
Volume :
9
Issue :
6
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.43b866f4c75c4e1096a3c942aa4710e7
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed9060135